Ethiopia asks for help to put out raging bush fire
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia on Saturday appealed to the international community
for help to contain a bush fire which has destroyed 20,000 hectares of
virgin forest in the south of the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that efforts to control the
two-week-old blaze by thousands of local peasants in the Borena district had
failed and called for foreign assistance to stop the fire spreading further.
Another uncontrolled fire fanned by gusty winds in the neighbouring Bale
region had destroyed nearly 1,000 hectares coffee fields and 1,600 hectares
of forest, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported on Saturday.
Amare Babu of the Ethiopian Meteorological Department told Reuters seasonal
rains which should have started this month had failed.
"The area is very windy and wood in the forest is completely dry," he said.
(Reuters)
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