Sherry Darling
New Yorker
So is Bono Mutt or Jeff?
Geldof: Ethiopia aid 'pathetic'
Bob Geldof wants a "war on poverty"
Irish rock star Bob Geldof has criticised the European Union response to Ethiopia's food crisis as "pathetic".
The musician and campaigner was speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa after meeting Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the start of a five-day tour.
After three years of failed rains, some 14 million Ethiopians are relying on food aid and Mr Meles has warned that his country faces a famine worse than that of 1984.
Geldof's trip comes 20 years after his first visit to Ethiopia inspired Band Aid and Live Aid, raising millions of pounds for famine victims.
"The EU have been pathetic and appalling, and I thought we had dealt with that 20 years ago when the electorate of our countries said never again," Geldof said.
He called on the EU to "release whatever foods it can and get them here as a matter of urgency .... I can guarantee that everyone will not want to see the horror of what we saw in the 80s, and it will truly happen," he said.
'Utter catastrophe'
On Sunday, Ethiopia held its own version of the Live Aid concert which raised millions in 1985.
The Birr for a Compatriot show - the birr is the Ethiopian currency, worth about 12 US cents - was attended by the country's top musicians and raised more than $1m, organisers said.
An estimated 14 million Ethiopians face starvation
But the BBC's Ishbel Matheson in Addis Ababa says this figure is just a drop in the ocean and international funds are needed if the hungry are to be helped.
Geldof is trying to raise international awareness of the Ethiopia food crisis ahead of next week's meeting of the world's seven richest countries and Russia, the G8, next week.
"The G8 meeting is next week and I think it is going to be somewhat characterised by political spite and backbiting over what has happened in Iraq," he said.
"But meanwhile, further south is another country which is facing an utter catastrophe this summer because it has failed to receive over two-thirds of the food requirements that have been promised."
'Skeletal'
BBC correspondent Andrew Harding visited an area three hours' drive south of Addis Ababa where hundreds of women were bringing their children to be weighed at a makeshift clinic.
He said, on that day, 12 youngsters were so severely malnourished they had to be taken straight to the nearest hospital.
Thousands turned out for Ethiopia's 'Live Aid' concert
"The wards are already full of pitifully thin children," he said. "A five-year-old girl called Adanech retches painfully - her skeletal frame too weak to hold down a few sips of milk."
A doctor said that in the past three weeks he had dealt with 60 severely malnourished children - eight whom could not recover and died.
"My belief is that it is the beginning of the problem," he said.
Ethiopia is one of the five poorest countries in the world, with an estimated income of just $100-a-year per person.
Geldof: Ethiopia aid 'pathetic'
Bob Geldof wants a "war on poverty"
Irish rock star Bob Geldof has criticised the European Union response to Ethiopia's food crisis as "pathetic".
The musician and campaigner was speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa after meeting Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at the start of a five-day tour.
After three years of failed rains, some 14 million Ethiopians are relying on food aid and Mr Meles has warned that his country faces a famine worse than that of 1984.
Geldof's trip comes 20 years after his first visit to Ethiopia inspired Band Aid and Live Aid, raising millions of pounds for famine victims.
"The EU have been pathetic and appalling, and I thought we had dealt with that 20 years ago when the electorate of our countries said never again," Geldof said.
He called on the EU to "release whatever foods it can and get them here as a matter of urgency .... I can guarantee that everyone will not want to see the horror of what we saw in the 80s, and it will truly happen," he said.
'Utter catastrophe'
On Sunday, Ethiopia held its own version of the Live Aid concert which raised millions in 1985.
The Birr for a Compatriot show - the birr is the Ethiopian currency, worth about 12 US cents - was attended by the country's top musicians and raised more than $1m, organisers said.
An estimated 14 million Ethiopians face starvation
But the BBC's Ishbel Matheson in Addis Ababa says this figure is just a drop in the ocean and international funds are needed if the hungry are to be helped.
Geldof is trying to raise international awareness of the Ethiopia food crisis ahead of next week's meeting of the world's seven richest countries and Russia, the G8, next week.
"The G8 meeting is next week and I think it is going to be somewhat characterised by political spite and backbiting over what has happened in Iraq," he said.
"But meanwhile, further south is another country which is facing an utter catastrophe this summer because it has failed to receive over two-thirds of the food requirements that have been promised."
'Skeletal'
BBC correspondent Andrew Harding visited an area three hours' drive south of Addis Ababa where hundreds of women were bringing their children to be weighed at a makeshift clinic.
He said, on that day, 12 youngsters were so severely malnourished they had to be taken straight to the nearest hospital.
Thousands turned out for Ethiopia's 'Live Aid' concert
"The wards are already full of pitifully thin children," he said. "A five-year-old girl called Adanech retches painfully - her skeletal frame too weak to hold down a few sips of milk."
A doctor said that in the past three weeks he had dealt with 60 severely malnourished children - eight whom could not recover and died.
"My belief is that it is the beginning of the problem," he said.
Ethiopia is one of the five poorest countries in the world, with an estimated income of just $100-a-year per person.