Poor donor response may worsen east African drought, says Oxfam

NAIROBI – A searing drought that has put at least 11 million people across the east African region on the brink of starvation risks turning into a catastrophe if donors fail to respond quickly to the situation, an aid agency warned yesterday.

With drought-related human deaths already reported in Kenya and Somalia, cattle, camels and donkeys are also dying at an alarming rate in some areas and the situation may worsen with further delay delivery their pledges, Oxfam International said in a statement. “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,” said Paul Smith-Lomas, the group’s head in East Africa.Oxfam urged the United Nations’s special humanitarian envoy to the Horn of Africa, Kjell Bondevik, who is currently visiting Kenya “to push donors for a swifter response to an escalating food crisis that threatens 11 million people.”Of the US$574 million requested to fund fund humanitarian response in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, donors have committed US$186 million, leaving a shortfall of about US$388 million, the aid group said, citing figures from the World Food Programme (WFP).It urged Bondevik “to establish a strong mechanism to coordinate a regional response to the crisis (to) help avoid unbalanced interventions, which creates the risk of people relocating to where aid is, increasing tension and conflict due to competition for scarce resources.”On Tuesday, Bondevik, deployed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to assess the humanitarian situation, said he was “alarmed” by the impact of the devastating drought that has put millions of people in the threat of starvation.”It’s a dead end.The livestock have started dying from this drought, and now it is our turn,” Ethiopian elder Buke Arero told the Oxfam assessment team that visited southern Ethiopia, where livestock owners have resorted to feeding their animals the thatch from their huts.”The situation in many parts of the region are increasingly bleak,” Oxfam said.Weathermen have said that the long expected rains could be delayed further, worsening the current drought, the worst in the recent years, and further exacerbating suffering in the affected regions.- Nampa-AFP”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,” said Paul Smith-Lomas, the group’s head in East Africa.Oxfam urged the United Nations’s special humanitarian envoy to the Horn of Africa, Kjell Bondevik, who is currently visiting Kenya “to push donors for a swifter response to an escalating food crisis that threatens 11 million people.”Of the US$574 million requested to fund fund humanitarian response in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, donors have committed US$186 million, leaving a shortfall of about US$388 million, the aid group said, citing figures from the World Food Programme (WFP).It urged Bondevik “to establish a strong mechanism to coordinate a regional response to the crisis (to) help avoid unbalanced interventions, which creates the risk of people relocating to where aid is, increasing tension and conflict due to competition for scarce resources.”On Tuesday, Bondevik, deployed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to assess the humanitarian situation, said he was “alarmed” by the impact of the devastating drought that has put millions of people in the threat of starvation.”It’s a dead end.The livestock have started dying from this drought, and now it is our turn,” Ethiopian elder Buke Arero told the Oxfam assessment team that visited southern Ethiopia, where livestock owners have resorted to feeding their animals the thatch from their huts.”The situation in many parts of the region are increasingly bleak,” Oxfam said.Weathermen have said that the long expected rains could be delayed further, worsening the current drought, the worst in the recent years, and further exacerbating suffering in the affected regions.- Nampa-AFP