The United Nations(UN) raised less than $1 billion (£810.21 million) to help over 30 million people in the Horn of Africa at a high-level conference on Wednesday May 24, 2023.
The UN appealed for $7bn (£5.67bn) to provide food and other humanitarian assistance for Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, but only received $1.6bn (£1.29bn).
After pledges were tallied, the UN humanitarian office said that the total funding for 2023 now stands at $2.4bn (£1.94bn).
That means only $800m (£648.23m) in new funding was announced on Wednesday.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres urged would-be donors at the start of the pledging conference to make an immediate and major injection of funding to prevent the crisis caused by the longest drought on record, massive displacement and skyrocketing food prices “from turning into catastrophe.
“People in the Horn of Africa are paying an unconscionable price for a climate crisis they did nothing to cause,” he said.
“Without an immediate and major injection of funding, emergency operations will grind to a halt and people will die.”
According to the UN humanitarian office, there were 25 countries that made announcements along with the European Commission, Islamic Relief and the UN’s emergency humanitarian fund.
Alison Huggins, deputy director for Africa for the relief organisation Mercy Corps, said that people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya contribute less than 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, but they are “suffering the consequences of human-induced climate change.”
The humanitarian agency Care said that the region is facing the worst food crisis in 40 years, pointing to drought, two locust invasions, conflict and rising commodity prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Over 31 million people need emergency aid, more than 2.5 million have left their homes and due to the extreme weather more than 13.2 million livestock have perished.
