RAF Ethiopia airlift extended

THE RAF Hercules airlift in Ethiopia is to be extended until Christmas the government announced this week. Their decision came after appeals from Cardinal Hume and other church leaders.
Timothy Raison MP, Minister for Overseas Development, who arrived back from a fact-finding trip to Ethiopia earlier this week, said that the decision to continue the airlift was taken because of the severe food distribution problems in the drought-stricken country. Two RAF aircraft and crews in Ethiopia and a further one in Sudan were originally scheduled to be withdrawn in September, 11 months after their arrival.
In a statement to the Commons on his return, Mr Raison noted that preliminary estimates for the 1985 harvest put it at well below the level necessary to feed the people of Ethiopia, and promised that relief would continue into 1986.
His visit had confirmed that transport difficulties remained in distributing grain, Mr Raison said. He quoted a United Nations report which suggested that 400 long and shorthaul vehicles were necessary to solve the problems in Ethiopia.
see analysis, page three