Armenia Seeks Food

August 11, 2000

Armenia is asking the world community for urgent food aid after a severe drought this summer, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reports. Half the food-grain harvest in the small former Soviet republic has been destroyed, according to Armenian officials.

Armenia is asking the Food and Agriculture Organization, a United Nations agency, for seeds. It is also requesting flour from the UN’s World Food Program.

Like other parts of the former Soviet Union, Armenia declared its independence after the failed 1991 coup attempt that ultimately led to the collapse of the old Soviet state. But Armenia has labored under numerous disadvantages, including strife with rival ethnic groups in neighboring republics, and its landlocked status and meager resources.