The European Commission is mobilising a further €15 million to help East African countries contain the locust invasion, which is having a disastrous impact on livelihoods and food security in an already vulnerable region.
This decision was announced by the Commission on Wednesday 8 July at an informal ministerial meeting on the Horn of Africa hosted by Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
The Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smaїl Chergui, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, and the IGAD Executive Secretary, Workneh Gebeyehu, participated.
The funds will support the action plan of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and strengthen EU development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the region. “The situation is exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has complicated response efforts”, Urpilainen said in a statement.
This new aid is in addition to the €42 million mobilised by the EU in early 2020 by combining humanitarian and development aid for the Horn of Africa (see EUROPE 12435/17). In this region, 27.5 million people are severely food insecure and at least another 35 million people are at risk. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)