UN Secretary-General’s special envoy calls for more drought aid

Catherine Bertini, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Drought in the Greater Horn of Africa, on Tuesday made an impassioned appeal for increased donor assistance, pointing out that “3.3 million people in Kenya are in dire need of food”. Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, Bertini, who is the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), described in detail the effects and consequent needs of Kenya in dealing with what is now called the worst drought on record. Bertini, who was on a week-long follow-up tour to her April visit, described how the situation had changed as the result of the prolonged drought. “In April we thought we were funded for Kenya, but as the drought continued, we realised we weren’t,” she said. While progress had been made, she admits, however, that “we don’t have enough resources”. In fact, the UN has resourced only 70 percent of Kenya’s current needs. According to a recent UN report, of the US $146 million budgeted for the crisis in Kenya, US $46 million was still needed. The report went on to say that, of all the countries in the Horn of Africa, Kenya needed the most urgent donor attention, as the country still faced a serious relief gap until early December 2000, and donor pledges needed to be quickly stepped up. While humanitarian assistance was planned until the end of the year, it was already foreseen that major relief assistance would be needed until at least mid-2001. In terms of relief food, the report said that, given the worsening drought in Kenya, the emergency operation was now targeting 2,404,390 people, an increase of 187,699 people on top of the official target population established in July. Of those targeted for general distribution, 430,402 children under five years old, pregnant women and nursing mothers would receive supplementary food. In addition, 1,074,234 children would be targeted for emergency school feeding. This was an increase of 22,458 children. In the light of these increased numbers, it was likely that the cost of the operation would increase. The proportion of pledges covered would be reduced as increased costs were incurred to feed more people. It was precisely for that reason that food rations in Kenya had to be cut. Bertini, however, told IRIN later in an interview on Tuesday that food aid was not the only item on her agenda. “We have several great needs in Kenya, and two of them that are not met at all are seeds and logistics. Seeds are necessary for the planting season so that people, if it rains, can have a reasonable harvest,” she said. In terms of logistics, she said: “We have identified several roads that are in need of repair where trucks cannot go down.” She added that in this regard “we need support from donors, cash support”. She went on to say that water and sanitation were also very important components in the relief effort, saying that while “we have made some progress, we are still more than 40 percent underfunded”. One question repeatedly asked by journalists at the press conference was whether donations made for Kenya actually reached the needy, given Kenya’s reputation for official corruption. Bertini dismissed this claim to IRIN, saying: “In Kenya, I think the system is working extremely well. The government has asked the United Nations and the NGOs to manage the distribution system.” She added emphatically: “Donors that give to Kenya will be assured that the basic standards, which we think are very high for a UN aid distributor, are there.” Ms Bertini, who is scheduled to meet Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and representatives of donors and NGOs in Nairobi on Wednesday, is set to travel to Ethiopia on Thursday.