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East Africa May Need Years Of Assistance

6:17pm Friday, 5th August 2011  

Joshua Maule

The number of people in East Africa facing starvation and in need of immediate medical help numbers several million. According to the UNHCR, 12.4 million people require "urgent humanitarian assistance" in regions including Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The US estimates 29 000 children have already died as a result of famine in the Horn of Africa.

The UN has set a global fund-raising target of $1.4 billion to respond to the crisis. Forty four percent has been raised so far. And Emergency Program Manager with World Vision Australia Tristan Clements says, "It sounds low, but it's not that unusual for this kind of slow moving disaster ... It's just not the sort of thing that gets people's attention in the way that a big earthquake or tsunami does." However Clements says recent media coverage is helping bring in donations.

Emergency relief funds have been set up by Christian and secular organisations. World Vision Australia aims to raise $6 million, which it says it is on track to reach. Around 80 percent of the money will be used on the field, while the remainder will be spent on overhead costs such as administration. World Vision Australia will ally with its staff in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as send staff from Australia.

Tear Australia will not send staff to Africa. It will use a large non-profit body on the ground, World Concern, to distribute food. Tear has raised $250 000 for 10 000 Southern Somali families travelling towards camps at the Kenyan/Somali border. "World Concern have been running an emergency feeding program for severely malnourished children and families," says Tim Rae, Tear Australia's Africa Team Leader. "They've been providing emergency medical supplies, and they've also been doing a lot about emergency water and sanitation facilities." Rae says World Concern has had access to people who have been missed by World Food Program (WFP) distributions.

The UNHCR is orchestrating aid distribution in the drought striken region. However reports suggest the dominance of terrorist group Al Shabbab which controls much of Somalia has restricted some aid groups, including the WFP. "Basically," says Tim Rae, "the US government and Australian government have very tight restrictions to make sure aid does not fall into the hands of terrorist organisations."

He says once NGOs jump through some hoops they are able to provide aid. "Organisations such as ourselves have a duty of care to vet local partners and local organisations that we work with to ensure that they are not a front for a terrorist organisation."

While the residents of East Africa are desperate for food in the short term, Tristan Clements says they will need many months, even years, of assistance. It depends on rains working for a good harvest. "We can get money into to the field now, but we know for a fact that three, five, six months from now there's still going to be emergency needs out there ... For many of those in the camps, they're not going to be able to go home at all. For many of those from Somalia, they may not be able to go back into Somalia, or may choose not to.

"Realistically there'll be communities who will be needing support for the next couple of years."

To donate to an East Africa emergency appeal visit:

https://www.unrefugees.org.au/emergencies/current-emergencies/east-africa-crisis/donate

http://www.unicef.org.au/Donate/One-off-Donation/east-africa-drought-emergency-appeal-famine.aspx

https://www.tear.org.au/donate/emergencies/east-africa-food-crisis/1110/

https://trans.worldvision.com.au/appeals/emergency/donate.aspx?isource=Appeal_Africa_FAP_R_Top_Feature

 

 

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