DJIBOUTI: No response to funds appeal for desperate drought victims

Photo: IRIN

NAIROBI, 8 June 2005 (IRIN) - An appeal for US $7.5 million in urgent drought relief for the tiny Horn of Africa country of Djibouti has received almost no response, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York reported on Monday. "A newly released nutrition and health assessment shows that malnutrition among children and women is widespread in drought-affected areas, with moderate acute malnutrition rates high in communities dependent on food aid," OCHA said in a statement. It said chronic malnutrition had reached over 40 percent in the communities it had surveyed in the country. Six weeks after an urgent flash appeal was launched on 27 April, OCHA sounded the alarm when just 5.3 percent of the total needs were funded. While Germany and the US had agreed to pay for water, sanitation and some health projects of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), no money had been promised for food and agricultural relief. Djibouti is suffering from a worsening drought following three failed rainy seasons. A severe food crisis threatens three of the country's six rural zones. Limited rainfall has been insufficient to replenish water catchments and regenerate pastures. As a result, many of the animals on which Djibouti's pastoralists depend for survival have died. The rest are in poor condition and unable to provide milk and meat, important parts of the local diet. The situation has been exacerbated by the migration to Djibouti of pastoralists from neighbouring areas in Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia due to drought in their own countries. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has appealed for roughly $4 million for emergency livestock feeding and animal-health projects. The UN Development Programme needs $350,000 for emergency coordination services and government disaster-coordination structures. UNICEF and the UN World Health Organization require almost $200,000 for emergency healthcare services, while the UN World Food Programme is short by $2.6 million for emergency food and nutrition assistance.