Brussels, 17/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - An €69 additional sum of million euros is to be mobilised by the European Commission to assist the vulnerable populations of the Sahel, bringing to €184 million the humanitarian effort made by the Commission for this region since January, the institution announced on Monday 17 June. The funds will pay for food aid, supplies of drinking water, access to basic health care services for women and children suffering from hunger and aid to victims of the conflict in Mali, as well as refugees in Chad.
Of this extra emergency humanitarian aid, €53 million will go to the victims of the food and nutritional crisis currently affecting the entire region (4.5 million children under the age of five are currently exposed to a high risk of acute malnutrition), €4 million will go to Sudanese refugees and repatriated Chad nationals fleeing the fighting on the other side of the border and €12 million have been earmarked (but not yet mobilised) to tackle the crisis in Mali.
“To save lives and help communities live through the crisis that continues to grip the Sahel, we need to intensify our aid. The food and nutrition emergency has been aggravated by the impact of the conflict in Mali, but also by natural disasters in the region”, said Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response on Monday. The commissioner was speaking from Chad, where she is carrying out a humanitarian mission. (AN/transl.fl)