Brussels, 22/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - As alarm grows regarding the severity of the drought and famine in Somalia that threatens 12 million people throughout the Horn of Africa, the European Commission is expected to soon announce a new package of emergency humanitarian aid of €29 million to complete the €5.67 million released on 7 July for refugees in Kenya (see EUROPE 10413). Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and Krzysztof Stanowski, Secretary of State with the Polish Foreign Ministry, flew to Kenya and Somalia for a joint two-day mission (22-24 July), to assess the situation on the ground, especially in the overcrowded refugee camps in Daddab, at the border with Somalia.
At the European Parliament, the Greens/EFA Group has expressed alarm at the dramatic worsening of the situation over recent days and is urging the EU to considerably step up its support, considered insufficient. “The situation in Somalia and the surrounding region has deteriorated dramatically in the past few days and the EU cannot continue to sit on its hands and remain an idle observer. Current EU humanitarian aid for the refugee camps in Kenya and to the wider region (€27.8 million) is a drop in the ocean”, states Franziska Keller (Greens, Germany), the spokesperson for the group on development issues. The NGO Oxfam considers that, as things stand, the European response to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa - the worst this century - is “not only very slow but very inadequate”. Althought it estimates that €800 million are needed to make up for the lack of funding, the NGO accuses some member states, like France and Germany, of pledging “relatively small aid sums”, while others, such as Italy and Denmark, “have even refused to provide any new sums”. (A.N./transl.jl)