According to the UN, millions of people in the crisis region on the Horn of Africa are suffering from a wide variety of crises. A donor conference has now raised $2.4 billion in support.
At a donor conference in New York, the United Nations received pledges of 2.4 billion US dollars (about 2.2 billion euros) for the crisis region on the Horn of Africa, 210 million euros of which came from Germany.
The money is intended to help people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia who are suffering from drought, conflict and economic crises, the United Nations said. Specifically, food, water, medicine, accommodation and other humanitarian goods are to be financed. In total, more than 30 million people in need are at stake.
Conflicts and climate crisis
According to the information, the UN and its partners will need a total of seven billion US dollars for their aid measures in the region this year. The fighting in Sudan had further destabilized the region, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “We must act now to prevent the crisis from becoming a catastrophe.”
According to the World Food Program, the drought of the past three years has also meant that millions of people in parts of the three countries are struggling with severe hunger. Mortality and malnutrition rates are unacceptably high. Several failed harvests in a row and high transport costs would have triggered a massive increase in food prices.
“The people of the Horn of Africa are paying an unbearable price for a climate crisis they did not cause,” Guterres said in a statement. “We owe them solidarity. We owe them help. And we owe them a measure of hope for the future.” That means immediate action to ensure their survival, said the UN Secretary-General.