Ireland will immediately provide €30 million in humanitarian aid in response to the rapidly deteriorating food crisis in the Horn of Africa, the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
The aid brings Ireland’s humanitarian and development funding for the Horn of Africa in 2022 to over €100 million, as the region is facing an unprecedented drought and a severe food crisis.
At least 36 million people have been affected by a historic five-season drought centred on southern Ethiopia, northern Kenya and Somalia, compounded by conflict and the impact of the war in Ukraine on food supply.
According to Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, the funding will support the United Nation’s (UN) and civil society partners active in the region, as well as seven Irish non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – Concern, Trócaire, GOAL, World Vision, Oxfam, Plan International, and Christian Aid.
A significant proportion of the funds will support the response in Somalia, where the threat of famine is most severe, according to the department.
Ireland’s Minister Coveney added that; “The Horn of Africa is on the brink of disaster. The prospect of starvation and famine across swathes of the Horn is imminent. The combined effects of drought, conflict, ongoing political struggle and the global impact of the war in Ukraine have been devastating.”
“Sadly this crisis looks set to worsen further in the months ahead. This €30 million package in additional funding will address immediate life-saving needs and begin to lay the groundwork for longer-term resilience and development.”
Ireland’s Minister for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy in August and September this year undertook a week-long visit to Kenya and South Sudan, where he met Irish Aid partners and vulnerable communities affected by the crisis.
“The people of the Horn of Africa are facing a humanitarian catastrophe. I recently met with families in northern Kenya who have lost their animals, their livelihoods and all their means to provide for themselves. Those people told me that they feared they would starve in the months ahead,” he said on his return to Ireland.
“We urgently need the international community to step-up. The international response to this crisis remains drastically underfunded, with humanitarian funding gaps of over 50 percent evident across some of the affected countries.”
