People in Need launches Somalia campaign

With hundreds of thousands of refugees on the move amid a famine in the Horn of Africa, the Prague-based NGO People in Need (Člověk v tísni) is launching an aid project and a renewed call to help ease suffering in what the United Nations has called the world's "worst humanitarian crisis."

About "12.4 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are in dire need of help, and the situation is getting worse," Valerie Amos, the UN under-secretary-general and emergency relief coordinator told reporters Aug. 2.

In war-torn Somalia proper, the UN has expressed concerns that Islamist militias may have fomented tens of thousands of deaths by preventing aid from reaching the struggling population, making the situation even worse and spurring further migration. In late July, the UN declared a famine in two southern Somalia regions.

"Today, we are warning that unless we see a massive increase in the response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions," Amos said. "Tens of thousands of Somalis have already died, and hundreds of thousands face starvation with consequences for the entire region."

Having already collected 6.5 million Kč in donations, People in Need is launching missions in two of four refugee camps near the Ethiopian town of Dolo Ado, an area just across the Somali border now flooded with some 150,000 refugees. The aid group also plans to offer medical help, shelter and fresh water to 1,500 unregistered refugees in the area of Kelafo, where no refugee camps yet exist.

The general priorities are sanitation facilities, shelters and waste-disposal systems, according to Marek Štys, head of People in Need's Ethiopian mission. 

The East African drought that has spurred the famine is considered the worst in more than 60 years, killing plants on grazing lands and scores of livestock, a staple food source in the region.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com