The United Nations has appealed for thirty million dollars, which it says is necessary to feed, house and protect people displaced in Ethiopia by the war with Eritrea. An UN spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said the funds would be used by the organisation to assist more than 300,000 people in the Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia who were internally displaced by the war with their neighbouring African state.
Mr. Eckhard said that $15 million is needed for food aid and a further $15 million to provide health services, water, shelter and fund programmes to clear landmines and combat HIV and AIDS. The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea initially broke out in May 1998 and flared up again in May this year after a lull of about ten months. The two countries signed a ceasefire in Algiers in June.