I had to choose who to save.. it's unbearable still

Field worker recalls horror of 1984 famine in Ethiopia

- ANDY LINES

FORTY years ago today, the BBC broadcast a report by journalist Michael Buerk on the famine ravaging Ethiopia. The horrifying scenes sparked outrage around the world.

As 85,000 people faced starvation, battling at the frontline in a remote aid station was Red Cross nurse Claire Bertschinger, the hero who helped spark the era-defining Band Aid and Live Aid relief efforts.

As the sombre anniversary is marked, Claire, now 71, recalls in an emotional interview how in 1984 she was forced to pick which malnourished children to treat at the feeding centre where she was working in Mekele, Tigray Province.

She said: "At first, I had suggested the local staff chose them but they refused, saying, 'They're our brothers, our sisters, our cousins. How can we? You must do it, Claire. We can't'. The pressure was unbearable. They must have thought I was playing God, but I certainly didn't feel like a god.

"I felt guilty and ashamed that I could save so few and was sending them to certain death.

"I felt like someone condemning innocent people to the death camps. I have lived with that ever since."

As she sits at home in the Somerset town of Crewkerne, she still wrestles with those painful memories.

Claire remembers some of the children's names and playing hide and seek with one of the youngsters.

But she can never forget those who died.