Ethiopia appeals for food aid for 6.2 million

* Ethiopia appeals for food aid

* Five-year drought afflicting east Africa

By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Ethiopia appealed on Thursday for 159,410 tonnes of emergency aid to feed 6.2 million people, 25 years after more than a million perished in the country's notorious famine.

Aid workers say a five-year drought is afflicting more than 23 million people in seven east African nations.

Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's State Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, said this year's rains were especially poor.

"As a result, the number of people needing emergency assistance during the period Oct.-Dec. 2009 has increased to 6.2 million from 4.9 million at beginning of the year," he said.

Ethiopia has a population of 83 million.