By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer

FIK, Ethiopia - The 16,000 inhabitants of this parched town in southeastern Ethiopia have almost filled three graveyards with their dead children during two years of disease and drought.

The first was filled after a devastating drought in 2000. The second, a collection of neat rows lined with rocks and wilted flowers, has filled in recent months as the town's death toll from the latest drought has climbed to one child each day.

So the residents of Fik, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, built a third cemetery above the sandy bed of the river that in more prosperous times fed water to the town. It, too, is almost full.

The World Food Program launched the Africa Hunger Alert campaign in December to widen its appeal for help to private charities, non-governmental organizations, citizens' groups and individuals. The U.N. food agency says about 38 million Africans are at risk of serious hunger: 13 million in the Horn of Africa, 23 million in southern Africa, and the remainder in five west and central African states.

"If we are to avert starvation in Africa, ordinary citizens have an important role to play," WFP Executive Director Jean-Jacques Graisse, said in Rome. "It's critical they join the campaign and urge their governments to address the needs of the hungry now, before it is too late, before we have to endure the shame of seeing images of dying children on the news."

The current drought compounds the everyday hardships of the 275,000 people in the zone around Fik, most of whom live on less than a dollar a day.

Weakened by hunger, children in Fik quickly succumb to rampant diarrhea and endemic diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Save the Children UK, the only Western aid organization working in the region, says at least 17 children die in the zone every day.

Fadmo Muhumed, 40, has buried four of her children in Fik's newest cemetery — two have died since her husband left several months ago to search for pasture for the family's herd of goats, their only source of livelihood.

Muhumed's children died from diarrhea they contracted drinking contaminated water. The local health center, understaffed and short of supplies, was unable to save them.

Making matters worse, the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front's activities effectively cut the region off from the rest of Ethiopia — and the outside world.

The United Nations refuses to travel to this region of southeastern Ethiopia. Other international aid groups whose vehicles have been attacked and whose staff have been shot at also avoid the area.

Save the Children, however, recently built an airstrip in Fik so food aid and supplies can be flown into the region. The first small plane landed in December, raising hopes among townspeople and local officials that other aid groups may soon return.

But Fik, like many communities in Ethiopia, is competing for scarce resources.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has appealed to the international community for help, saying 11.3 million people will need about 1.36 million metric tons (1.5 million tons) of food aid this year.

Ethiopia is regularly beset by food shortages. Each year, some 4 million of its 65 million people need food aid to survive. The current drought is particularly acute.

Between 1984 and 1985, a combination of drought, famine and civil war devastated the nation; it is estimated to have killed at least 500,000 people.

In 2000, about 10 million people in Ethiopia needed food aid, and during that drought the impoverished nation was spending US$1 million per day on its 2 1/2-year border war with Eritrea. The conflict formally ended in December 2000 when the two countries signed a cease-fire agreement.

Meles' call prompted the European Commission to pledge 70 million euros (US$70 million) to buy about 260,000 metric tons (287,600 tons) of food aid. And international donors have said another US$3.6 billion, mainly in World Bank and bilateral loans, will be ploughed into Ethiopia over the next three years as part of an overall poverty reduction program.

But, the government is also facing calls to provide more food from its own stocks, which total around 100,000 metric tons (110,000 tons). The U.S. Famine Early Warning System said the Ethiopian government should pledge more food to show "leadership and commitment."

Despite the pledges of food, Fik residents say they already expect to have to build a fourth cemetery.

"Look, even this graveyard is almost full," Ahmed Omer, who runs the town's only health center, said as he surveyed the graves. "Soon there will be no children in Fik."