UN appeals for $426 million to aid drought victims in Horn of Africa

In Nairobi today, the United Nation’s top humanitarian official launched an appeal for $426 million to support the urgent needs of more than 8 million people in mortal danger from a drought in the Horn of Africa that shows no sign of relenting.

Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have been suffering from water shortages and declining access to food resulting from several years of successive rainfall failures and the rapid erosion of assets, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters.

Mr. Egeland said that while people are not yet dying in large numbers because of the drought and hunger, "large numbers were, nonetheless, dying due to related preventable diseases and malnutrition.”

He went on to warn that Somalia, to which $327 million, the bulk of the appeal, is targeted, is particularly vulnerable to the unfolding crisis with intolerable levels of children dying of malnourishment and "angry and hungry men with Kalashnikovs in search of food" poised to trigger further conflict in a country already-beset by conflict.

“I know we launch many appeals, and there are many areas of the world needing assistance, but I can not underline too much how important this is,” Kevin Kennedy, the Director of the Complex Emergency Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in New York.

“There are millions of people at risk, and predictions, particularly with the lack of rainfall, that if things do not improve rapidly, if assistance is not provided we could see a much, much worse situation three, four, five months out,” he warned.

Mr. Kennedy said the five or six year drought cycles of the past have become yearly or bi-yearly leaving some 15 million people at risk in addition to the 8 million in immediate danger.

“These are people who rely on livestock for their livelihood and their whole way of life,” Mr. Kennedy said. “The rain has stopped falling. The waterholes have dried up. The crops have failed when they can do cropping and the livestock are dying.”

OCHA said the funds being sought will provide a comprehensive response, covering water and sanitation, health and nutrition, livestock and agriculture, livelihood security and education, as well as food aid, in order to save lives immediately and to also build resilience to future droughts.

“We have to break the cycle of drought in this region; it will affect and save the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of people over the long-term,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Following the launch of the drought appeal, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) also called for contributions. “UNIFEM is urging the donor community to pay particular attention to the gender aspects of the crisis,” said Micheline Ravololonarisoa, Chief of UNIFEM's Africa section.

The food and water shortage is increasing women's social and economic vulnerability and exposing them to greater risk of violence as tension within communities mounts and women are forced to travel long distances in search of diminishing resources, UNIFEM said.