UN Emergency Fund Allocates $45Mln to Assist Somalia, Ethiopia Amid Drought - OCHA

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2019) The United Nations allocated $45 million to provide food assistance to Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya after another season marked by drought, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release on Wednesday.

"Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock today allocated US$45 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to immediately scale up food and nutrition assistance, safe water provision, livelihoods protection, and other urgent humanitarian support to drought-affected people across parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya who are facing acute food problems following another season of failed rains," the release said.

OCHA explained that $30 million in funds would be provided to Somalia because more than 2 million people are expected to face severe food insecurity as a result of the draught.

Ethiopia will receive $10 million and Kenya $5 million to complement their hunger safety net program, OCHA said.

In May, aid agencies issued an urgent appeal for $710 million to assist some 4.5 million people affected by the drought, but only 22 percent of the plan has been funded, OCHA noted.

The Office the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said earlier that some 2.6 million people in Somalia are already internally displaced as a result of climatic shocks but also of conflict, which further complicates the situation in that country.