East Africa Drought: African Union Holds Donor Summit

The African Union is holding a much-delayed summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to pledge funds for the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa. Sanitation equipment, food rations and medical supplies are among the vital kit heading for Africa.T

he AU has already pledged $500m, but the UN says that at least another $2bn is required to help at least 12 million people in need.

It is East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years – Somalia has been worst hit with some areas suffering from famine.

Tens of thousands are believed to have died since the crisis began.

‘Not peaked’

African Union Commission chief Jean Ping urged Africans to “act out against hunger by providing both cash and in-kind support for urgent life-saving assistance to our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa”.

he US, Britain, China, Japan, Brazil and Turkey have all pledged funds to the region, as has the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – a gathering of Islamic countries – but the contributions have fallen short of the requested assistance.

“We are still not reaching all the people who need help, and the crisis still has not peaked. The cost in human suffering will rise even higher. We must do all that we can to stop the acceleration,” AFP news agency quotes Asha Rose Migiro, the UN’s deputy secretary general, telling the conference.

“The future of an entire generation hangs in the balance,” she said.

Correspondents say several African governments have faced criticism for their lack of response, and Aid agency Oxfam says only a handful of African countries have donated money so far.

The fund-raising conference is the first of its kind for the AU – and the AU Commission’s vice chairman said it wanted to make sure the money raised reached those in need.

“We have already established a mechanism where we’re working with a lot of international organisations – particularly the UN – so that we can monitor and co-ordinate the assistance,” Eratus Mwencha told the BBC’s Network Africa.

We have also asked some of the organisations, including the non-government organisations, to prepare a chart where we can follow on and give an indication to all our partners of what they pledged, how much we have received and how much has been dispersed to the needy populations.”

The food crisis is said to be the most serious to affect the continent since the famine in Somalia in 1991-1992 at the time the country descended into a civil war from which it is yet to emerge.

Much of Somalia, where five districts are suffering from famine, is controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab group. The group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has banned many aid agencies from its territory.

Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled to the capital, Mogadishu, and to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, in search of assistance. An estimated 1,500 Somalis have been arriving every day at Kenya’s massive Dadaab camp – the world’s largest refugee camp.

The UN says 3.2 million Somalis – almost half the population – are in need of immediate life-saving assistance.