They are seeking to raise £93 million urgently to provide food, shelter, health services and other desperately needed life-saving aid.
Among the worst affected are Somalis fleeing drought and violence in their own country – Somalia’s last functioning government fell in 1991 – to seek refuge in overcrowded, under resourced refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said its frontline aid workers have never seen anything as bad with many children dying en route or within a day of arrival at refugee camps. Many have had to brave unimaginable horrors just to get there, according to testimonials from aid workers.
At an emergency press briefing at the UNHCR’s offices in Geneva the organisation’s spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said a quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million people are now either internally displaced or fleeing the country as refugees. At least 135,000 fled this year with 54,000 crossing its two borders last month alone – a three-fold increase on May.
It has opened relief camps in Ethiopia which are already reaching capacity while in Kenya the government says its Dadaab refugee camp in the north-east is dealing with 1,400 new arrivals every day.Relief agencies have said they fear overall numbers might soon reach half a million.Britain has pledged £38 million in food aid to Ethiopia.
As many as 10 million people – particularly in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda – are directly affected by the unfolding catastrophe caused by a dry rainy season and soaring food and commodity prices.Food prices in some parts of Kenya were up to 80 per cent higher than the five-year average, while in Ethiopia, the consumer price index spiked by 41 per cent.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the World Food Programme aid could feed 1.3 million people for three months and would also help treat 329,000 malnourished children and mothers.“Britain is acting quickly and decisively in Ethiopia to stop this crisis becoming a catastrophe. We will provide vital food to help 1.3 million people through the next three months. This situation needs an international response and Britain is calling on the international community to provide fast, effective relief.”
Oxfam’s humanitarian director Jane Cocking said: “The money cannot come soon enough.
