Desert locust besieging Addis Ababa, “roof of Africa”

BY WORKU BELACHEW 

In my life, I did not see natural disaster in Addis Ababa until yesterday. Yesterday, however, a swarm of locust besieged the capital, though it caused no harm. Residents were unaware of that incident in advance. And the thing was too unusual. The locust were moving from Eastern Addis to North Western part. Fear reigned for hours. Mothers who send their kids to school were screaming and running to schools. One mother who  received a phone call informing her that “Desert Locust surrounded the neighborhoods” from a relative  mistakenly heard that Desert lion surrounded .... The mistake was this. Desert locust in Amharic is called Yebereha Ambeta, and she confused it with Yebereha Anbessa ( desert lion) for they are slightly related in phenom. And she spread this wrong information which raised escalated shock to  nearby residents. 

East African Desert Locust Prevention and Control Office headquartered in Addis Ababa in a place called Gurd Shola, North Addis. It is almost in same place that Ministry of Agriculture situated. None, nevertheless, forecast this to happen when it even made its way to Addis from Somali Land. Later on, Ethiopian Television attributing an expert from Ministry of Agriculture reported that the locust brings no harm since it is not crop season.

But, failure both to prevent, control and to inform residents as well as farmers about the disastrous locust is stirring questions among various people.