Germany Provides €20mln aid to Support Drought affected HoA

ADDIS ABABA – Germany said it is providing assistance to the tune of €20 million via the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to mitigate the suffering from the ongoing severe drought in the Horn of Africa.

Following a historic drought, the UN estimates that around 13 million people are at risk of hunger in in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

“Germany is providing the FAO with 20 million euro to ensure that people in areas of particular risk from hunger can receive swift assistance,” said its embassy in Addis Ababa.

It said the funds will be used, among other things, to provide more than 50,000 people in Somalia with feed for their livestock.

In Ethiopia, Germany said the fund will finance efforts to restore 26 dried up watering holes.

At least 15,000 families are to receive humanitarian cash transfers in Kenya, according to the embassy.

In parts of the three countries, precipitation has decreased by up to 70 percent. Some regions have even suffered their lowest rainfall of all time causing nomadic herders and stockbreeders to lose their sole source of income.

The latest funding from the German Government “aim is to provide help as fast and as anticipatory as possible in order to avoid or minimize damage,” said the embassy.