Oxfam seeks pledge response to meet African crisis

Firm pledge commitments from rich countries to fund the response to the food crisis in East Africa are not being made quickly enough, says international aid agency Oxfam.

The relief agency has pointed to an estimated 68% shortfall, equivalent to around $388m, in pledges made to three drought-hit East African countries Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, where there is an urgent need for immediate aid.

The head of Oxfam in East Africa, Paul Smith-Lomas, said: “Although some funding is starting to come through, the response so far is dwarfed by the immediate need. Donors need to frontload their efforts so that action can be taken now; money given in three months will be too late for many.”

Oxfam say that the latest figures from the WFP show that donors have committed $18.7m, or 8%, in response to the $225m food appeal launched two weeks ago to address the Kenyan food crisis. There is also a $144m shortfall in the appeal launched for Somalia, while in Ethiopia a more positive picture emerges with a shortfall in the current food appeal of $38m.

Oxfam estimates that, at most, donors have committed $186m to fund appeals for the three countries, against $574m requested, a 68% shortfall of $388m.

The situation in many parts of the region are increasingly bleak, with a recent Oxfam assessment team finding that many livestock owners in Southern Ethiopia have resorted to feeding their animals the thatch from their homes and the livestock have started dying from drought.

Further exacerbating the situation is the real likelihood that the long hoped for rains may fail.

“The meteorological forecasts suggest yet another set of failed rains. This would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe even worse than the current situation,” said Mr Smith-Lomas.

Malnutrition levels in parts of the north-eastern Kenyan province of Wajir are more than double the 15% level at which an emergency is declared by UN standards.

The warning comes on the day United Nations new Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik, travels to Kajiado in Southern Kenya to see for himself the gravity of the situation.

Oxfam has called on Mr Bondevik to use his current visit to the region as an opportunity to push donors for a swifter response to an escalating food crisis that threatens 11 million people.

(SP/GB)