The Ethiopian government has called on the international community to provide urgent food aid.

It made the request at an international gathering of donors meeting to discuss the current drought in East Africa. The drought has left 6.2 million Ethiopians with little or no food. In other East African countries, a further 23 million people are suffering from hunger. But the United Nations World Food Programme has said that, because of shortages, it is unable to offer sufficient aid.

The request for help came as aid organisation Oxfam released a report calling for more than just the provision of emergency aid in response to such humanitarian disasters. It says investment is required to help communities prepare for further droughts by, for example, storing water during the rainy seasons.

Oxfam released its report on the 25th anniversary of the famine that killed more one million Ethiopians.

Photo of Ethiopian child by oriol_gascon (flickr)