OVER 40 BISHOPS FROM SOUTH SUDAN AND KENYA have united in appealing to the UK Government to “urgently get more funding to the front line of the hunger crisis in East Africa, and to mobilise the international community to collectively step up.”
After the worst drought in 40 years, millions across East Africa are facing the threat of famine and death. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates 18.4 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are missing meals.
In an open letter, 44 bishops from South Sudan and Kenya say they fear “early warnings were not heeded” and claimed, “existing commitments to strengthen resilience have not been backed up by funding that is so desperately needed.”
Yitna Tekaligne, Country Director for Christian Aid Ethiopia, explains “millions are taking desperate measures to survive in the face of failed harvests, livestock deaths, water shortages and extreme hunger.”
He added: “The severe conditions are being made worse by the climate crisis, Covid and now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused global food prices to rocket. A tough situation has now turned into a dire crisis.”
The intervention, coinciding with World Humanitarian Day 2022, follows a vigil led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby with Anglican bishops from around the world at the church’s Lambeth Conference in the UK.
Speaking after the vigil, Justin Welby said: “The crisis in East Africa has been building for at least two years and is now devastating the people of the area and threatening worse. I appeal to our governments and to the people of this country, please step forward to enable food to be purchased.”
The Most Rev Dr Justin Badi Arama, Primate of South Sudan, is a signatory to the open letter. He said: “People are dying from starvation. Millions are hungry with three in four now facing severe food insecurity. We need the international community to act now to help prevent widespread famine, the UK Government can help by leading from the front.”
Working through local partners, Christian Aid is responding in Ethiopia and Kenya. The charity is helping over 300,000 people by repairing wells, handing out water purification kits, providing cash support and trucking water to drought affected communities as well as providing fodder and medicine to keep valuable livestock alive.
One of many people Christian Aid is supporting is Adoko Hatoro Engang. He is 76 and living in an internally displaced person camp in South Omo with his family. Recurrent drought and flooding, due to the climate crisis and the overflowing river, has destroyed his farmland and depleted his livestock. This is causing hunger for his family.
“I remember when I was young, the rains would follow the drought season, and flooding devastated everything”, Adoko Hatoro Engang said. He added: “If I am able, I eat once a day. We only share very small amounts of food we cook, using the money Christian Aid gave us.”
Karimi Kinoti, who is based in Kenya and is Christian Aid’s interim Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Director, has welcomed the bishops’ open letter. She said: “Ministers must speed up the delivery of funding that has already been promised, reverse cuts to international aid and ensure all humanitarian and development funding supports local actors who are best placed to respond quickly.”
* The full letter and list of signatories is avaiable here[1]
* Source: Christian AId[2]
References
- ^ here (mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk)
- ^ Christian AId (www.christianaid.org.uk)
Newer articles:
- South Sudan approves over 700 mln USD on road project - 03/09/2022 11:32
- Tribal clashes in Sudan’s south kill seven - 03/09/2022 00:50
- Vietnam's UN peacekeeping force celebrates National Day in South Sudan - 03/09/2022 00:40
- South Sudan's peace monitors approve transitional government's extension - 02/09/2022 10:10
- Lawyers move to stop East Africa labour export - 02/09/2022 01:59
Older news items
- Troika faults South Sudan's leaders for extending their tenure despite failing to deliver - 02/09/2022 00:13
- UPDATED: South Sudan's former rebels join unified army - 02/09/2022 00:00
- ‘Unified forces have to be loyal to South Sudan’- U.S envoy - 01/09/2022 11:40
- Riek Machar: Over 200 South Sudan soldiers died in training - 01/09/2022 10:05
- Young people in E. Equatoria decry centralized issuance of National Identity Cards - 01/09/2022 02:20
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
- South Sudan secured over 282 150 doses of oral cholera vaccine to contain the cholera outbreak - 01/12/2024 17:43
- The idea of one nation and one people is a distortion of our reality!!! - 29/11/2024 12:54
- In South Sudan with aid boss John Rynne: 'The maps drawn in colonial times are starting to erode' - 29/11/2024 12:47
- 'They have nothing': Aid workers struggle to save lives at edge of war-torn Sudan - 29/11/2024 12:36
Random articles (all categories):
- Reflection on Justice Peter Sule’s indefinite incarceration - 03/05/2013 11:31
- UNICEF - Program Specialist (NOC), Bor - 05/07/2012 10:53
- MSF: Malaria, malnutrition rise among South Sudanese returnees in Renk requires stronger medical response - 04/10/2023 06:24
- Is peace on the horizon in South Sudan? Salva Kiir could sign deal with rebels - 26/08/2015 03:05
- South Sudan govt suspends peace talks despite sanctions threat - 14/08/2015 15:11
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58287 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22212 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21350 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18861 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17966 times