- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday June 20 2000 01.48 BST
"This drought is still here, it's very serious and the women and children of the Horn of Africa need our total commitment to help them survive," Carol Bellamy said in neighbouring Kenya.
Ending a five-nation tour of the region, Ms Bellamy said Eritrea was in particular danger after a combination of drought and war, despite signing a partial peace accord with Ethiopia on Sunday. The fighting displaced at least a million Eritreans, endangering the planting season.
The conflict has put off some "historically very good donors", she admitted - an apparent reference to Germany and Britain, which criticised Ethiopia for demanding food aid while spending exorbitantly on arms to fight its neighbour.
The result is a "humanitarian crisis on an enormous scale", said Unicef's chief, who also predicted that drought in north-western Kenya could worsen to levels exceeding the famines of the 80s and 90s.
The UN asked donors last week for $378m (£250m) in drought relief for the region, where an estimated 13.4m people have been affected by lack of rain.
