US Mission Geneva

Today, we have invited senior members from the State Department to provide an update on continued U.S. efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the region as well as some of the ongoing security challenges that exist.

Drought has impacted more than 13 million people in the Horn of Africa. USAID continues to provide humanitarian assistance to drought-affected individuals in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti.

“Today, on behalf of the U.S. Government and the American people, I am announcing an additional $113 million in emergency relief assistance for the Horn of Africa. This funding will support urgently needed food, health, shelter, water and assistance needs.”

MARK TONER: While we are encouraged by the international community’s response efforts and the impact they are having on saving lives, the crisis is far from over, and the needs are still great. Any decline in the level of international assistance, increase in conflict, and/or new disruptions to humanitarian access or trade could allow famine conditions to reappear in Somalia.

On September 26, the Humanitarian Forum and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation brought together leading humanitarian organizations from Muslim donor and recipient countries to develop a shared action plan for Somalia. Participants discussed ways to improve coordination and promote networking within the humanitarian community.

Assistant Secretary Schwartz: “First, there is the moral imperative – the simple policy goal of saving lives. Our supporters in Congress well understand that our entire annual civilian humanitarian assistance funding is only a small fraction of the less than one percent of our federal budget that is dedicated to overseas assistance.”

The chickpea might be the key to greater agricultural production and improved food security in Ethiopia. A plan to increase chickpea production is being developed to that end by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the PepsiCo Foundation.

Degradation of the land supporting human life and the food supply is an environmental threat that endangers the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide. On September 20, world leaders met in a high-level U.N. forum for the first time to address desertification and drought.

The campaign is designed to expand American awareness of the severity of the famine and deprivation plaguing the region, to encourage Americans to convey that message to others and to build support for the nonprofit organizations at the forefront of saving lives and easing suffering in the region.