BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: International organizations are responding to Ethiopia's call for help. The drought-stricken nation hopes to prevent a threatened famine. The aid is coming in, but as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, some of it fails to meet the most immediate needs.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The people of Ime gather to receive relief aid, what awaits the lucky few at the front of the line is not food or medicine, but rather kitchenware donated by the World Food Program. "I don't have any food; I haven't eaten in five days," says Hali Hussein (ph). "I came to get food and they gave me a pot." Earlier, food was handed out, 50 kilogram sacks of porridge mix to be divided among 15 people. Policemen and soldiers were called in to keep order. Patience wears thin in the heat and dust. With supplies scarce, relief officials said the porridge was only for the most needy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are choosing the people who are very very weak, children, and also the old people.</s>WEDEMAN: Hanipha Muhammad (ph) didn't take any chances, she bought ration cards from others and took her bag back to her house. People here complain the relief effort is providing the wrong aid to the wrong people. It has been a long time since 9-year-old Chamal (ph) has been in good health. Today, his body is covered in bloody sores. Abandoned by his relatives, he came to the camp at Ime for medicine, but there is no doctor here to treat him. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Ime, in eastern Ethiopia.
International Aid Reaching Drought-Stricken Ethiopia Doesn't Meet Most Immediate Needs