Today I discussed the measures required to combat the dramatic famines in the Horn of Africa, the Lake Chad region and in South Sudan with UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien. We will continue our consultations next week in Berlin. According to reports from the hunger areas, the situation there is desperate. Children are dying right before the eyes of the global public. If comprehensive international relief measures are not taken quickly, millions of people in the affected regions are at risk of starvation.
We are ready to take a leading role in preventing this. I assured UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien that Germany will double its support for the suffering people in the Horn of Africa by providing an additional 15 million euros in emergency funding. We are confident that other donors, too, will extend their assistance, which is so badly needed in the regions affected by the famine.
All of this can only be considered a first step. We now need quick concerted action by the international donor community. Without the massive and sustained commitment of the international community it will not be possible to bring help to those who need it in time. With this in mind I will hold talks with representatives of major international relief organisations and donor countries next week.
Of course Germany will have to further step up its support as well. I therefore assured the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator that we are ready to take additional measures in order to do our part in ending the hunger crisis.
