[Article by Alfred Taban; first paragraph is introduction. Kampala THE NEW VISION in English 16 Dec 89 p 4]

[Text] The world may be a global village but horrendous events are often overlooked in the jostle for headline space. Little is known of the sufferings of the people of Sokota where thousands are threatened with famine and death.

Starvation threatens the 80,000 inhabitants of Sokota, an Ethiopian town and a large surrounding area. Sokota is one of the main towns in Wollo province of central Ethiopia.

Since the highly publicised drought of 1972/73, in which at least 200,000 people died in Wollo, Gondar and Tigre provinces, there has been little improvement in Gondar or Wollo despite heavy rains last year.

There have been intermittent droughts since 1973, the latest from 1985 to 1987. Many people and most animals perished. Since almost all cultivation in these provinces is done by oxen, ploughing is now a problem because of a shortage of domestic animals.

The few families who own oxen could not take advantage of the heavy rains which fell last year because of a lack of suitable ploughs. "Although the place is fertile it is rocky and it requires ploughs made of steel," says Zerihune Demesse, the chairman of the Ethiopian Relief Organisation (ERO), the relief arm of the Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Movement (EPDM).

The people of the area, over 90 percent of whom depend on cultivation for their livelihood, have only wooden ploughs. There is also an acute shortage of seeds, as well as sickles and other farm implements.

Last year's rains were so heavy that they washed away most of the top fertile soil on the high ground, and flooded the lowland areas. This made cultivation either impossible or reduced yields.

One million of the 2.5 million people living in areas controlled by the EPDM are now experiencing an acute shortage of food and need aid. To prevent mass starvation and deaths, at least 150,000 metric tonnes of relief food are needed for the next six months, or four million Ethiopian Birr (about US$2 million) to purchase food. Several people have already died of hunger.

The most serious handicap to any major relief operation in the area is lack of transport. Sokota is about 600 kilometres (372 miles) from Addis Ababa and only 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Desa, the capital of Wollo province.

But those two cities are in areas held by the Ethiopian government while Sokota is held by the EPDM, so there is no contact between them.

Most areas in Wollo province can be reached only on foot because of mountains which make this some of the most hostile terrain in the world. Sokota itself is accessible only to small vehicles which must travel through narrow mountain passes barely resembling roads.

For the residents of Sokota, lack of communication with the outside is the most serious problem. The towns people depended almost entirely on trade for their livelihood.

Merchants used to come from as far as Eritrea in the north to buy and sell commodities. Now business has almost dried up because of the war. Sudan is too far away, and to travel there traders have to pass through more war zones.

Almost all basic commodities are thus in short supply at Sokota. There are only three salaried people in the town--the local priest and two medical workers employed to take care of the town's sick. The workers earn 80 Birr (US$40.00) a month and are paid by the local government council. The priest does not say how he gets his money.

There are only two clinics for the 2.5 million people in the Wollo and Gondar areas. There is no doctor or trained medical assistant.

One of the two clinics is in Sokota, but it has no drugs. Disease is rampant. Several people are reported to have died of meningitis this year. Malaria, diarrhoea and typhoid are also very common, say town residents.

Although Wollo province is one of the most mountainous areas in Ethiopia, there are few running streams. Sokota and all the other areas in the hands of the EPDM are suffering from an acute shortage of water. Lacking soap, too, people find it hard to keep clean.

There is no school in the town. The school buildings stand empty. The students fled at the start of hostilities in the province.

Now, the only school is a primary school, with 200 pupils, in the town of Belasa in Gondar province.

Two years ago there was electricity but the only generator has broken down and has not been repaired. The hotels are empty because there are no guests and half the houses are empty because the owners have either fled to Sudan or to government-held areas. Very few stores are open because they have little to sell.

The hunger and lack of services in Sokota have been compounded by uncertainty. "You have to remember that this is a contested area. Today we are in control here but tomorrow nobody knows. This hampers the development of social services," said one EPDM commander.