Regional response to crisis will ensure fairness

Humanitarian agencies launching an appeal for funds in response to the drought crisis affecting more than eight million people in the Horn of Africa said they would focus on a regional response to ensure fair distribution of available resources and strengthen joint coordination of services. Because most of the communities affected by drought were nomadic pastoralists, who often moved with their herds across international borders, a regional approach would enable aid agencies to focus attention on all the countries affected, especially those that often received less attention from international donors, the agencies said on Friday when they launched an appeal for US $425.7 million to respond to the crisis Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya and Somalia. "We need to use resources in the best possible way and give donors an overview [of the crisis]," said United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland. "We want to give common regional services in the best way possible." Twenty-two agencies, including UN agencies and nongovernmental organisations, said a regional approach would reduce the possibility of inequitable interventions that would create "pull-factors" across borders, as affected populations converged on areas where services were being provided. For example, they said, up to 50 percent of pupils or patients at boarding schools and health centres in northeastern Kenya came from neighbouring regions in Somalia, where such facilities were not available. Similarly, nutrition centres in the town of Mandera in northeastern Kenya were treating patients from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. "Humanitarian response that is designed on a country-by-country basis may be inadequate unless due consideration is given to these factors," according to the appeal document. "We want to have equity in terms of [relief] distribution," said Valarie Julliand, regional head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "Emphasis is on needs instead of country - to make sure that everybody receives at the same time." Egeland explained that humanitarian agencies would organise themselves into "clusters of like-minded organisations" to provide related services - such as water and sanitation, health, agriculture and animal husbandry - to communities across international borders. Governments in the region had recognised the need to address chronic vulnerability in the arid and semi-arid areas of their countries, he said. At a summit in Nairobi on 20 March, the leaders of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, which are members of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), committed to increasing funding in the agriculture sector in their respective countries in a bid to end persistent food insecurity in the region. Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki called for coordinated efforts to combat the drought. "In order to address the challenges effectively, we need to detail our cooperation and develop concerted sub-regional approaches and strategies that will create an environment favourable for socioeconomic development," Kibaki said at the summit. Egeland expressed his hope that 2006 would be the year when people affected by humanitarian crises in Africa would begin to move away from violence. For example, failure to make enough resources available to help people in Somalia could lead to further instability, he warned. "There will be more violence with hungry men moving around with Kalashnikovs," he said. "Enough is enough. We have to invest in food security and [strengthen] resilience. We need more money yesterday," Egeland said. ALSO SEE: Agencies appeal for US $425.7 million in drought relief Pastoralist crisis will not be solved with food aid - UN officials