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KOREM, Ethiopia-Clutching an intricate bronze cross he used to dig graves during Ethiopia's 1984-1985 famine, priest Alemayu Gede prays drought and high food prices will not make him use it as a shovel again.At the height of the famine that caused more than 1 million deaths and spawned the Band Aid project bringing dozens of top musicians together to raise money, Alemayu helped dig 200 graves a day with the symbol of his faith which he carries everywhere."Some used hands, some used sticks and I used this cross," said Alemayu, now in his late 80s. "There were 350 of us, digging day and night. This place was the valley of death."Alemayu is standing at a grave for 300,000 people just outside the northern town of Korem that attracted world attention in 1985 when hundreds of thousands of people streamed down from the surrounding hills looking for food.As survivors gathered in the town this week to unveil a memorial sculpture and lay a ceremonial cornerstone for a hospital paid for by Band Aid, the threat of deadly hunger loomed again in the Horn of Africa country.About 70 km (44 miles) away in Nehoni, farmer Kassu Belai said seven of his cattle had died as watering holes dried up in the searing heat, forcing pastoralists to crowd their cows, goats and camels around the fast-disappearing liquid.No rain is coming."Our animals are dying," he said. "And for us that means we must be ready to die."
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As in the days of Noah...
