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Commission allocates extra
€ 4 mln aid for Ethiopia |
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ADDIS
ABEBA(August 11,2008) - The
European Commission on Thursday announced that it has allocated a
further €4 million in humanitarian aid for Ethiopia being provided
to vulnerable population in the country.
The commission also pledged €13million aid for Somalia and €4million
for Eritrea summing up the total latest allocation from the commission
to the horn of Africa region to be €21 million.
The commission said the €4 million assistance to Ethiopia will
cover health, water and sanitation, protection and support for refugees/IDPs.
"The Commission has also provided food aid worth €19.5 million
so far this year. Since 2006, the Commission has allocated €48.5
in relief assistance in Ethiopia (not counting funds from the aforementioned
€30 million Regional Drought decision)", it said in a statement.
Commission-funded relief projects are implemented by non-governmental
organisations, specialised UN agencies and the Red Cross/Red Crescent
movement, it said adding that the department has a regional support
office in Nairobi, and a field office in Addis Ababa.
Commission relief experts closely follow developments in the humanitarian
situation and play an active role in the local coordination of relief
efforts, the statement said.
Accordingly, all the funds are to be channeled through the Humanitarian
Aid department (ECHO), under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis
Michel.
"The challenges in the Horn of Africa are huge and multidimensional.
On the strictly humanitarian side, the area has suffered persistent
drought in recent years and more and more people are struggling to
survive. Humanitarian aid is an expression of Europe's solidarity
with those who are most vulnerable. We are committed to supporting
those most in need in this and other crisis zones", the statement
from the department quoted Louis Michel, European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid, as having said.
The commission said the €13 million assistance to Somalia will
focus on rural populations and internally displaced people (IDPs).
"It addresses core humanitarian needs, with emergency relief
assistance for IDPs, host communities, the most marginalised groups
and the chronically vulnerable, focusing on central and southern Somalia."
In Eritrea, the €4 million aid share will target vulnerable people
in rural areas around the country, focusing mainly on the provision
of nutrition, water and sanitation, basic health services and agricultural/livelihood
support.
So far in 2008, the Commission said it has provided nearly €120
million in humanitarian aid, including food aid, to needy people in
the Horn of Africa countries namely Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia
and Uganda.
According to the United Nations, 14 million people in the region are
living off emergency food aid as world food prices climb and the drought
cut farmers' output.
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