U.S. Senator Obama visits Ethiopia

By Les Neuhaus | August 31, 2006

U.S. Senator Barack Obama visits a tent camp for people displaced by floods earlier this month, in Dire Dawa in eastern Ethiopia Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Obama said the American military would continue to help the devastated region. In eastern, southern and northeastern Ethiopia, flooding caused by heavy rains has killed more than 600 people and displaced tens of thousands, according to U.N. officials. (AP Photo/Les Neuhaus)

U.S. Navy personnel began relief operations two weeks ago in the eastern town of Dire Dawa, where the first flash floods ripped through the town on Aug. 6. In eastern, southern and northeastern Ethiopia, flooding caused by the heavy rains has killed more than 600 people and displaced tens of thousands, according to U.N. officials.

The next order of business is to make sure these families are taken care of," said the Illinois Democrat, who is on a five-country tour of Africa. "But this shows what kind of role the U.S. military can play."

U.S. naval engineers, who are part of the anti-terror Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa based in neighboring Djibouti, set up 60 enormous canvas tens that are housing 2,700 people. The tents are furnished with straw mats and basic necessities.

Sanitation facilities were built with the help of the Ethiopian Red Cross. Already 150 people have died of waterborne diseases and 12,000 have been infected, according to relief organizations.

"This is a wonderful thing that the U.S. military has done," said Mohammed Noor, who is living in the tent city. "We lost everything by the waters that washed away our home."

Dire Dawa is 310 miles east of Addis Ababa.