On 31 January 2016, Vice President of the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva announced the EU has pledged €170 million to support Ethiopia in the fight against the El-Niño effect. During a high-level humanitarian round table discussion with Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen and other international donors, she said the Ethiopian government is making enormous effort to tackle the impact of one of the worst drought ever witnessed and it is showing strong leadership and will to protect its population. The EU official further said “The Government has done a great effort committing $380 million. The EU itself has committed $185 million in joint humanitarian and development funding; only through a comprehensive action can we tackle a multidimensional, recurrent crisis, but we are not there yet, she added. We must all strengthen our commitment. The EU will continue exploring how to strengthen its response. We hope that others will do so.” She ended her statement saying that “The global scale of El Niño requires global and effective actions. It requires a global and bold response. We have a collective responsibility to act now.”
This announcement was made the same day UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Ethiopian high officials and visited the drought-affected areas of the country. During his visit, the Secretary General urged international donors to step up assistance to the country. The UN chief also underlined that “the Government of Ethiopia has shown remarkable leadership in this drought response. It has made the greatest financial contribution” The U.N. has issued an international appeal for $ 1.4 billion in emergency funding for Ethiopia, of which less than half has been met by donors.
Following the UN delegation visit, the United States of America announced a pledge of $ 97 million to help mitigate the effects of the drought.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that as soon as it became clear that the El Niño phenomenon was going to be serious, the Government established a National Drought Coordination Committee chaired by himself. He said the government has been working to deliver food, water and animal pasture to the affected regions. He urged the international community to give immediate assistance, otherwise this drought may have a negative impact on the development of the country and the peace and stability of the region at large.
According to the National Drought Resilience and Emergency Commissioner Ato Mituku Kassa, the government of Ethiopia has allocated an additional ETB 230 million to prevent children school drop-out due to the drought through increasing school feeding. Furthermore, he said the government assistance to the drought-affected populations gives priority to children as well as pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers. The health posts and health institutions are working closely to follow-up the health situation of the populations in the drought-affected regions.
The current drought is considered to be the worst in 50 years, and the affected population is estimated at 10.2 million.
Contact: info@ethiopianembassy.be +32 2 771 32 94
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