ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The current drought in some parts of Ethiopia is posing a danger on the lives of around 56,000 children, UN officials said here Tuesday.

    "The clock is ticking for a significant number of children in the southeastern part of Ethiopia who are already under life-threatening conditions," said Dan Toole, UNICEF emergency program director.

    "There is a growing emergency for more than 56,000 children who are believed to be suffering from moderate and severe malnutrition in affected areas. the figure is expected to rise dramatically over the next three months," said Toole, who recently returned from a visit to the eastern Somali region and the southeastern border with Kenya.

    Around 1.75 million people were affected by drought following failure of rain for two consecutive seasons, he said, adding that it was high time that action was taken.

    "Pastoralists have started to return home. Livestock situation is poor with severe shortage of water and food. Prices for grains doubled. This is the time to act to tackle the situation in the country," he said in a statement.

    Toole said the malnutrition rate was on the rise for children in the affected areas with a ratio of one out of four, and the situation was expected to get worse in the coming two and three weeks unless the international community take measures immediately.

    He also expressed fear that it was going to be another round of 2000 crisis.

    "I would stress that for Ethiopia and the international community, this is a reminiscent of the 2000 situation. We are on the verge of another crisis. We are starting to see people falling into that crisis and we have insufficient resources to respond," he said.

    Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest and most indebted countries, which makes it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters such as drought.

    Because of frequent periods of drought, Ethiopia is chronically unable to feed its population and has to rely to massive foreign aid. Enditem