Brussels, 25/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - To address the disastrous problem of the drought in the Horn of Africa, EU International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva made a three-fold appeal on behalf of the European Union to the community of donors who had gathered in Addis Abeba on 25 August: she appealed for international generosity, urged international cooperation and called on African countries to take long-term action to ensure that never again will drought equal famine. Her speech to the international donors' conference convened by the African Union (see EUROPE 10437), with its emphasis on the duty of solidarity and the need for urgent action given the seriousness of the current crisis which is threatening 12 million people with famine, was a call to arms to act against a disaster which is by no means inevitable.
That the conference was organised by the African Union (AU) is a demonstration of the desire on the parts of African governments to find an African solution to an African problem. The commissioner paid tribute to the solidarity shown by the countries of the region, taking in refugees fleeing starvation.
“Our collective human duty is to alleviate today's suffering - but also to set a course of development in the Horn so no drought will ever have the same devastating consequences. African countries are already making great efforts to deal with the crisis. Both Kenya and Ethiopia are not only helping their own affected populations, but are welcoming the thousands of refugees fleeing Somalia each day. There are few countries in the world that would respond with such generosity to their neighbours. In this context, it is a moral imperative for the rest of us in the international community to shoulder the burden which has fallen on the region”, Georgieva stated.
Noting that the EU has already in 2011 committed €600 million, she underlined that the scale of the crisis “means that more will be certainly needed, from us and from others around the world”. In her view, more aid has, firstly, to be delivered inside Somalia, “where the crisis is most severe”; then preparation must be made for a substantial and steady flow of support to the whole region until the crisis is over as “more than 2/3 of the affected people are outside Somalia - across Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti” and, “even if rainfall is plentiful it would take until next summer for the situation to substantially improve”; and, finally, there is also a “need to invest in long term solutions to build up resilience to future droughts”, through, for example, preparation for climate change if it cannot be prevented. “Economic development is the best way to develop resilience”, according to Georgieva. (A.N./transl.rt)