Drought, emigration, war ensure Ethiopia's spot among poorest nations

Published: 2004-11-15

ROME (CNS) -- Twenty years after the 1984 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" raised more than $14 million for famine relief in Ethiopia, the country remains one of the poorest places on earth. As the '80s tune, sung by a legion of Britain's top pop stars, was being re-released this fall, Ethiopia still was dealing with the cumulative effects of emigration, periodic drought and border conflicts. During the 1990s, Ethiopia's war with Eritrea reportedly drained the country of $1 million per day -- money many say could have been used to build schools and feed the hungry. "When you are poor, it makes things like drought, famine and war seem even worse," Archbishop Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, told Catholic News Service Nov. 12. Poverty in Ethiopia has led the nation's youth to follow dreams of riches and success in Europe and to the nearby Middle East. Archbishop Souraphiel said he wants to prevent Ethiopia's youth from emigrating because, for many of them, life does not get much better once they leave Africa's horn.

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