Spain Increases Its Aid To The Horn Of Africa By Almost 6 Million Euros

• 2.8 million is destined for projects run by UNICEF in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti
• The remaining three million euros will be designated to the UNHCR for expanding and setting up refugee camps

The Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Soraya Rodríguez, has met this morning with the Non-Governmental Development Organisations (NGDO) and the heads of international cooperation of the autonomous communities in order to monitor the crisis that the Horn of Africa is currently experiencing and which already affects 12.4 million people.

Those taking part in the meeting analysed the current state of the situation, the impact that Spanish aid is having on the ground and the new measures to be taken, given the increase in the affected population and in anticipation of the crisis worsening in the region.

Following the meeting, the Secretary of State for International Cooperation announced an additional contribution from Spain of 5.8 million euros to alleviate the effects of this crisis on the affected populations. 2.8 million euros of the contribution have been consigned to projects run by UNICEF in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti, and 3 million, through the UNHCR, have been designated for expanding and setting up refugee camps.

With these new contributions, Spain becomes the 5th largest international contributor of aid to the crisis in the Horn of Africa with a current outlay of 22.3 million euros.

In this regard, Soraya Rodríguez stated that “we are going to exceed the figure of 25 million euros that we had promised for the Horn of Africa. This is a long-term crisis and it isn’t just about alleviating its effects on the population at this time, but also preventing the loss of the next harvests, something which would complicate the situation even further”.

Rodríguez warned of the difficulties that humanitarian actors are experiencing in accessing certain areas of the Horn of Africa -“from the south of Somalia there is no real information because you can’t gain access”, she pointed out-, and of the need to open humanitarian corridors which would allow aid to arrive.

Likewise, the Secretary of State has made a recommendation to the NGDO and humanitarian actors, given that “the situation is very delicate and dangerous, and only the NGDO and international organisations that are already familiar with the terrain should work on this crisis”.

In Ethiopia, Spain has designated its contribution to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for aid to especially vulnerable refugee populations and logistics operations; and to UNICEF for emergency water and sanitation in the province of Somali, which it will back up with contributions to NGDO that are working on projects in the areas of water and sanitation in the same province and to local NGDOs.

Accordingly, the Office for Humanitarian Action of the AECID has activated four emergency agreements: two with the NGDO Doctors Without Borders and Action Against Hunger to treat severe and moderate malnutrition in the Dolo Ado refugee camp, another with the Red Cross for food distribution, and another with Intermon Oxfam for water and sanitation intervention in Liben.

In Somalia, a triangular operation has been put in place together with the United States, Brazil and the WFP, to send 9,000 tonnes of cereal and pulses to Somalia, in which Brazil will provide the food, the United States will take care of transportation and Spain the distribution. A contribution has also been made to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to support agro-pastoralist communities.

In Kenya, where the problems caused by drought are combined with the influx of Somali refugees, Spain has made a contribution to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and to the WFP for food aid in the refugee camps. Two emergency agreements have also been activated with the Red Cross for food distribution, and with Save The Children for primary health care.

In addition to the personnel from the Humanitarian Action Office of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), participants in the monitoring meeting included representatives from the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, the International Cooperation Agency of the Balearic Islands, the International Cooperation Agency of Andalusia, Barcelona City Council, UNHCR, UNICEF, the Coordinator of NGDO Spain and the organisations Doctors Without Borders, the Spanish Red Cross, Save the Children, Intermon Oxfam, the Red Cross, Ayuda en Acción, Caritas, Inspiraction, FUDEN, Médecins du Monde, Adra, Farmamundi, Terre des Hommes Spain, ACIB and Manos Unidas.