US gives $91 million in additional food aid to drought-hit Ethiopia

USAID administrator Mark Green on Thursday said the United States would give an additional $91 million in emergency food assistance to help ward off starvation in areas in the south of the country teetering on the edge of famine.

"I am announcing $91 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the people of Ethiopia," Green said after a meeting with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in the capital Addis Ababa. "This funding will provide additional emergency food assistance and vital medical care."

He also called on the government to create the political space to allow all sides of the political spectrum to have a say following protests that killed hundreds of people last year.