UN appeals for $378 million for drought victims

The UN on Wednesday launched an emergency appeal for US $378 million to avert the effects of drought in Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti. The appeal aims to address the immediate needs of 13.4 million people, following three consecutive years of poor rains and the total failure of rains last April throughout the Horn of Africa. In a forward to
the appeal, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini, the UN Special Envoy for the Drought in the Greater Horn of Africa, said that for many of these people, timely assistance was the difference between survival and death.

"It is of utmost importance that our efforts go beyond saving lives to supporting efforts to build local capacities, to mitigate and prevent similar levels of distress from what is a current disaster in this part of the world," she said. Priority emergency requirements included food aid, health services, shelter and safe water, but it was also necessary to
provide seeds, tool and livestock regeneration.

The appeal was aimed at 10 million people in Ethiopia, 2.2 million people in Kenya, 335,000 people in Eritrea, 750,000 in Somalia and 150,000 in Djibouti. Recognising the high degree of inter-dependence between the peoples of the states of the region, the appeal stressed that the response "has to be sophisticated, tailored to the specific conditions, integrated
and managed from a regional perspective". It said the effects of the drought could be contained if the required resources are committed in time and that these resources were relatively modest compared to what would be needed if the current crisis were allowed to degenerate into widespread famine.

The appeal noted that a major defining characteristic of the Horn region was that it had served as a theatre of war for generations, while related political and social instability remained a feature. Regional instability was fuelled not only by internal conflicts but also by cross-border wars, such as that between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1997-8 and the current Ethiopian-Eritrean crisis. The almost constant refugee flows and
displacements of large sections of civilians throughout the region were among the many consequences of this instability, it said.