UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States announced at a U.N. conference on Wednesday nearly $524 million in additional humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa that aims to address the extreme effects of climate change and the region’s worst drought in 40 years. years, and the need for more than 5 billion dollars.
The UN has asked for $7 billion and received only $1.6 billion, a far cry from enough to help the 43.3 million people in need of assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya or even just the 21 million ‘those who do not have access to enough food. .
The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian aid in the region, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told the pledging conference that the $524 million in new funds will contribute total US humanitarian aid to the region at $1.4 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
When Thomas-Greenfield visited Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in September, she said she learned firsthand “how the drought affected food supplies and increased the potential for hunger,” and announced more than 40 billions of dollars in additional funding for the country.
“Sadly, the humanitarian needs in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are now greater than ever, with more than 23.5 million people facing acute food insecurity,” he said in a statement. “That’s why the United States continues to support the humanitarian response in the Horn with this new funding.”
The United States said its new funding will support refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced and stateless people and millions affected by conflict, drought and food insecurity. He said nearly $108 million of the additional funding comes from the State Department’s Office of Population, Refugees and Migration and more than $416 million comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Humanitarian agency CARE said the crisis in the region resulted from two failed rainy seasons, two locust invasions, conflict and rising commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war ongoing has decimated communities and caused the migration of more than 2.5 people. millions of people Livestock farming used to be a key way of earning money for many communities in the region, but CARE said more than 13.2 million livestock have died due to the extreme weather.
Somalia, where more than 6 million people go hungry, has not yet declared a famine, but some humanitarian and climate officials have warned that current trends are worse than the 2011 famine, in which 250,000 people died.
Parts of Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing flooding during the ongoing rainy season, and millions of people have been displaced. The affected areas, mostly occupied by pastoralists, had experienced prolonged dry seasons that left livestock dead.
Somalia also struggles with insecurity due to the al-Shabab extremist group, which has links to al-Qaida and has been fighting the Somali federal government in Mogadishu for years. The group stepped up attacks on military bases in recent months after losing territory in rural areas to government forces.
In Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, nearly all of the 6 million people are dependent on food aid after two years of civil war. Government-imposed restrictions on humanitarian aid had pushed parts of the region to the brink of famine until aid deliveries resumed after the war stopped with a ceasefire in November.
But the UN and USAID, the US aid agency, announced earlier this month that they were suspending all food aid to investigate the theft of humanitarian supplies.
International Rescue Committee president David Miliband said US funding “is helping to keep hunger at bay”, particularly in Somalia, and urged other nations to increase contributions and ensure full funding for the call.
He also called for “a change in approach to the response to famine and … (to) prevent catastrophe before it happens,” pointing to 2011 famine research that showed a quarter of a million people died before the famine was declared and there was an increase in the famine. the international response.
“Effective early warning systems help identify areas at risk of famine before the situation becomes critical, such as weather patterns, crop yields and food prices, and should trigger action for the most at risk by channeling cash, food and other aid before people experience” acute food insecurity and less hunger, he said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.
