Brussels, 01/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - In response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Somalia - with the country again being threatened with famine - the EU will allocate a further €10 million in emergency aid, to be targeted at the most needy, the European Commission announced on Friday 1 August.
The funding will be taken from the budget of the European Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection department (ECHO) and will finance the provision of basic healthcare and nutrition services, access to food, water, sanitation, shelter and household items for the most vulnerable people. The aid will be channelled through ECHO's partner humanitarian organisations on the ground (UN agencies and NGOs). It will bring the Commission's humanitarian effort for Somalia to €49 million for 2014.
European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva calls for the aid of other donors “before it is too late”. “Another severe drought is ravaging Somalia, compounding the effects of conflict and extreme poverty. More and more families are going without food, more people are fleeing their homes due to the conflict, and humanitarian workers continue to struggle to access those who need their help. The country's long-suffering people need a boost of international humanitarian assistance to avoid slipping into a famine as catastrophic as that of 2011”, she said.
The Commission states that currently over 2.9 million Somalis are in need of assistance, out of whom 857,000 are in a critical situation. Over 200,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished and, without adequate treatment, around 50,000 are at risk of dying. There are over 500,000 internally displaced Somalis who represent 75% of those in acute need of assistance. (AN)