Ireland pledges humanitarian assistance

The Irish government has announced an increased humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance package, including 5.4 million Irish pounds (about US $6.3 million) to be spent in Africa in partnership with NGOs and international agencies. The package includes half a million Irish pounds (about $575,000) to Burundi in support of the ICRC and WFP, and the same amount for the DRC through WFP and UNICEF, according to a press release from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Some 340,000 Irish pounds (about $390,000) is to go to support the Irish NGO Concern and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) with their work in Rwanda, while sums of 250,000 Irish pounds (about $288,000) will go to WFP operations in Kenya and Tanzania, it said.

The humanitarian package was intended to acknowledge Ireland’s solidarity with “the poor and dispossessed of today’s world”, target those most affected in the countries concerned and complement Ireland’s role on the UN Security Council in relation to countries in crisis, said Liz O’Donnell, Irish Minister of State for Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights.