UN warns world on
Africa drought
The world is in danger of allowing a drought in East Africa to
become a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN warns.
The UN special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Kjell Bondevik, says a
disaster can be avoided if funding comes "in a matter of weeks...
not months".
Around 11 million people are in serious danger in Kenya, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti, the UN estimates.
The World Food Programme, leading the aid effort, says it has only
a third of what it needs to close the shortfall.
Donors had committed just $186m (£106m) of the $574m (£327m)
needed, the WFP says.
"I urge donors countries to pledge more and pay. Not only to
pledge, but to pay," Mr Bondevik said on a tour to see first-hand
the situation in Kenya.
Past disasters
It follows past food crises in Niger and other parts of Africa
where, by the time images of dying children have prodded the
international into action, it has been too late, says the BBC's
Peter Greste in Nairobi.
Mr Bondevik said global climate change was the root cause for the
failure of the past two rainy seasons, and it was incumbent on the
global community to come to the aid of those at risk.
"I'm afraid that we will go from a crisis to a disaster to a
catastrophe if help is not provided in time," he said.
His comments were echoed by UK charity Oxfam, which said the
response so far from rich donor countries had been "dwarfed by the
immediate need".
The crisis is so bad in some parts of northern Kenya that families
are being forced to eat insects, wild berries and squirrels to stay
alive, Oxfam has found.
"Donors need to frontload their efforts so that action can be taken
now; money given in three months will be too late for many," Paul
Smith-Lomas, head of Oxfam in East Africa, said.