Brussels, 20/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - One year to the day after the United Nations declared Somalia to be in a state of famine, the European Commission points out that, despite an improvement in the situation in the Horn of Africa, the security of food supplies remains critical with 9 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid. It honours the victims and gives its assurance that it will continue to provide assistance to the region as a whole to help the countries concerned face up to the situation and to prevent such a crisis from happening again.
“Building on its long-established relief programmes in the Horn of Africa, the European Commission mobilised a total of €181 million in fresh humanitarian aid funding from the EU budget in 2011, reaching some 6.5 million people in need of relief. We then significantly stepped up our assistance as the crisis grew worse. Thanks to the massive international assistance given and the abatement of the drought, today the overall situation in the Horn of Africa is better than at any time during 2011, but the challenges remain huge and there is no room for complacency”, Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and Andris Piebalgs, Development Commissioner, explain in a joint statement. They add: “To honour the victims of the crisis, we will continue to do our best to assist the region in avoiding further famines”.
This is precisely the objective of the recently launched SHARE (Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience) initiative, which has a €250 million budget over two years (2012-2013). This Commission initiative, based on a long-term approach, helps the Horn of Africa countries to tackle the root causes of food crises via investment support in agricultural production and livestock farming, nutrition, cattle health, water supply and the management of natural resources (see EUROPE 10607). (AN/transl.jl)