Friday, 25 September 2009
In the anniversary of the global financial crisis, the East Africa is facing the risk of hunger due to the prolonged drought in the region and the substantial decrease in the food aid.
UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) declared that about 20 million people in the East Africa need food aid which is supplied by the funds of the donor countries. Compared to the last year, there occurred an increase of 6 million people in the region.
The drought crisis which was defined by the WFP as “very difficult situation”, especially affected the south-east semi-arid regions where the cattle-herders are struggling to keep their animals alive. Accordingly, WFP Spokeswoman Gabrielle Menezes stated that this is the worst drought since 2000.
Last week, the WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran released a statement which called for amid donations to prevent severe humanitarian consequences. Sheeran said, “We urgently need an additional US$3 billion to meet those needs, which is less than 0.01 per cent of what was put on the table to stabilize the world financially. We think this is critical for the world’s peace and stability.”
Ceren Mutus (JTW)
