East Africa emergency appeal reaches £24 million

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal for the food crisis in East Africa has raised £24 million since it was launched last week, with donations still flooding in. DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed has thanked the British public for its generous response and the Government for its financial support. International Development Secretary Priti Patel visited the DEC offices in London on Monday and met aid workers from six of its 13 member charities who had recently returned from the crisis areas, including Cafod, Christian Aid and Tearfund.

“I’ve met the amazing team at the DEC, volunteers and some inspiring aid workers who have just come back from South Sudan and Somalia,” she said, “and my plea is very simple: don’t delay, please donate and the UK Government will double what you give up to £10 million”. She was told how communities are going to extraordinary lengths to survive, for example, in swampy areas of South Sudan harvesting and eating the bulbs of water lilies.

Drought and conflict have left 16 million people on the brink of starvation and in urgent need of food, water and medical treatment in South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya as well as Yemen. The number of people with humanitarian needs in South Sudan  – 4.9 million – is now so great that it is difficult for aid agencies to respond, according to Cafod’s Emergency Programme Manager for the region. “Having returned to the community after just a few months, we found a bad situation far worse than we could have imagined,” said Michael O’Riordan, from the capital, Juba. “Although we are responding as best we can, it is beyond our ability to meet all needs,” he added. Mr O’Riordan was speaking after a visit to Yirol in central South Sudan, where agencies are collaborating to deal with the “man-made” famine – there has been no let-up in the civil war – affecting 40 per cent of the population. “People are walking slowly everywhere; even children are moving slowly because they do not have any energy because of lack of food,” he said.