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Oxfam Seeks 35 Millon Dollars For Urgent East Africa Relief
Nairobi (AFP) Apr 20, 2006 The British charity Oxfam International on Thursday launched its biggest-ever food crisis aid appeal, asking for more than 35 million dollars to save millions from starvation in drought-hit east Africa. The appeal for 20 million pounds (35.5 million dollars, 29 million euros), targeted at the British public, is the organization's largest single call for donations to avert a food crisis in its 60-year history, it said. Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said the situation -- which has put more people at risk than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami -- was critical and urgent assistance was needed for at least 11 million people across east Africa. "This crisis might be getting less attention than the tsunami did but the number of people needing help is even greater," she said. "The severity of this crisis means assistance is needed on a huge scale." Although other Oxfam appeals have brought in more than the 20-million-pound target for east Africa, the group said Thursday's call marked "the first time Oxfam has gone to the public with such a large request." "The British public's generosity has helped pull whole regions back from the brink in the past, we now need their help to do that again," Stocking said in a statement released in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Kenya, along with Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia have been badly hit by the drought and Oxfam's appeal is the latest in a series issued by UN and private relief agencies. Burundi and Tanzania are also affected. At least 50 drought-related deaths have been reported since December in northern Kenya alone, where tens of thousands of livestock -- up to 70 percent of herds in some pastoralist areas -- have also perished. Human and animal deaths have also been reported in southern and central Somalia and southern Ethiopia, although the numbers are unknown given the remoteness and inaccessiblity of the regions. Conditions have been made worse by recent heavy rains that have inundated parched soil, causing floods that have displaced thousands, disrupted aid distribution and raised fears of the spread of water-borne illnesses. Earlier this month, the United Nations launched an urgent 426-million-dollar (348-million-euro) appeal for east Africa this year, warning that tens of thousands of people were dying of malnutrition and associated diseases. Like that one, Oxfam is seeking money for emergency distribution of food, water and other humanitarian supplies as well as for longer-term development projects to help residents of drought-prone areas avert possible future crises. "We want to help people across the region to recover and be in a better position when the next crisis hits," Stocking said.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links - Africa News - Resources, Health, Food
Heavy Rains Kill Six In Kinshasa
Kinshasa (AFP) Apr 11, 2006At least six people have been electrocuted or crushed to death as a result of heavy rains in Kinshasa, authorities in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo said Monday. |
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