Brasília – The director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Jacques Diouf, said on Thursday (18) that it is the international community’s responsibility to put in practice measures to avoid the worsening of hunger in Northeast Africa, the region known as the Horn of Africa. The drought is affecting Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea, as well as Sudan and Uganda, placing children and adults in deadly peril.
The FAO has scheduled for today an extraordinary meeting to deal with the matter. “If governments and donors do not act now, hunger will spread. It will be an embarrassment to the international community,” said Diouf, adding that the tendency is for hunger to spread throughout Somalia, a country that is suffering, to reach the South by the end of the month.
"It is our responsibility to help people affected by hunger and drought. It is unbelievable that in our time, with the financial resources and the knowledge we have available, over 12 million people may die of starvation,” said Diouf. According to him, investment is lacking to guarantee the execution of the measures already defined.
In the sidelines, The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) informed that there is a risk of the cholera outbreak in the Somali spreading throughout the country. In a press statement, the Unicef added that most cases are under control. However, there are records of greater incidence of acute diarrhoea, mainly among children.
The Unicef representative in Somalia, Everard Marthe, said that people displacement in attempts to escape hunger and drought results in a worsening of diseases. According to him, it is necessary to increase the number of mobile clinics in the country. Cholera is endemic in Somalia. In 2007, the last epidemic took place in the region, affecting around 67,000 people.
The information was disclosed by the United Nations (UN).
*Translated by Mark Ament
