Brussels, 26/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), convened as a matter of urgency in Rome on 25 July, has drawn the international community's attention to the urgency of the situation in the Horn of Africa. $1.6 billion is needed this year to save lives and the means of livelihood of the vulnerable population in this drought-stricken region, where 11 million people are threatened with famine. The 191 participant countries agreed to immediately implement a programme intended to avert an imminent humanitarian disaster (by tackling conflict, safeguarding humanitarian corridors, providing nutrition, reducing disaster risks, providing health and education services, and adjustment to climate change), and also to ensure long-term food security. It is now necessary, participants say, to reflect on long-term development and food security of the region's countries (Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti). That, too, is the conviction held by the European Commission.
Ahead of the donors' conference in Kenya, on Wednesday, at which donors are expected to step up pledges of donations, the European commissioner for international cooperation and humanitarian aid, Kristalina Georgieva, who is currently in the region, speaking on behalf of the Commission, announced aid will be increased to around €160 million for 2011. The fate of the refugees that Georgieva was able to visit in the overcrowded camps of Dadaab (Kenya, on the border with Somalia), is of special concern to the commissioner, who paid tribute to the generosity shown by the government of Kenya, the host country. She counts on the generosity of the international community to break what she calls the “cycle of despair”. Georgieva will also have an opportunity to speak in greater detail on this subject on Wednesday in Brussels upon her return from the six-day mission to the region.
Florika Fink-Hooijer, who heads the commissioner's private office, cited by ANSA, said after the conference in Rome that “this is the worst drought ever recorded, and we are increasing our intervention gradually but one must have a thought for the post-drought period and give refugees the necessary means for building their future. Without the intervention of NGOs, this could have been a far worse disaster as the drought comes in addition to the problem of acts of violence against the refugees”. Underlining the importance of immediate aid (€27.8 million already made available and the additional €60 million being prepared), she added: “We also want to reflect on long-term solutions and contemplate what can be done to help the populations of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia so that they can face up to future emergencies, ensure food security and education for refugees and finally allow them to return to their countries and to foresee a future there”.
Bruno Le Maire, French Agriculture Minister, who co-chaired the meeting in Rome with Jacques Diouf, said: “This crisis highlights the need for urgent implementation of the action plan on food price volatility and agriculture adopted by G20 agriculture ministers on 23 June in Paris, notably regarding international policy coordination, agricultural production and productivity and targeted emergency humanitarian food reserves”. (A.N./transl.jl)