EAST Africa, on the brink of famine, is in drought and facing the gravest humanitarian crisis in the world today, Caritas Australia chief executive officer Jack de Groot said.
Mr de Groot said the crisis threatened to become worse than the 1984-85 famine which devastated Ethiopia and caused the death of millions of people.
He said at least of 10 million people were in dire need of immediate Australian and international assistance.
In some areas up to 40 per cent of children under five are malnourished and in danger of starvation.
The situation has been officially declared a “food crisis”, which means children and the elderly are severely malnourished. A famine is declared when the adult population is also severely malnourished.
Australia’s Catholic Mission national director Martin Teulan said thousands of malnourished women and children were arriving daily in the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camps in Northern Kenya.
Mr Teulan said the Horn of Africa was caught in the grip of the worst drought in 60 years.
“Warring armies in Somalia are exacerbating an already dire situation,” he said.
“People fleeing into Northern Kenya and Ethiopia are crossing a drought ravaged country that will not sustain life.”
On July 15, Mr Teulan received an email from Catholic Mission’s Ethiopia director Fr Angelo Antolini, asking the Australian Church for prayers to bring aid to the millions who were drought affected in the Horn of Africa.
Caritas Australia said the drought-afflicted countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea were the worst hit, with the elderly and children starving as the food crisis worsened.
South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania were also affected.
“This is a matter of life and death for millions,” Mr de Groot said.
“There are 9000 families every single week, fleeing Ethiopia and Somalia hoping they can find a safe place with food and water in refugee camps in Dadaab in north-east Kenya.
“Some of them are walking hundreds of kilometres over several weeks to get help. There is no longer room for them all and we need to be there to give them what they need.”
Caritas is engaged in a series of programs to assist those in acute need. Food is being supplied to more than 127,000 people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia with a focus on women and children.
Caritas also is supplying 70,000 semi-nomadic people in Somalia with clean water and first aid to thousands of women and children across the region. Cattle retention programs are in place.
Mr de Groot said this was only the start and invited people and families of the Catholic community to join together in solidarity and move toward a common good by coming to the assistance of the world’s most vulnerable.
“It has been a difficult period of time with many nations in need of emergency assistance but the people of the Horn of Africa and East Africa cannot be ignored,” he said.
“Sadly, … we are heading for a humanitarian catastrophe if more is not done.”
Mr Teulan said the most vulnerable were the nursing mothers, babies and infants.
He said the United Nations had indicated that more than two million children were severely malnourished.
“The question for the future of the Horn of Africa has gone beyond the expression ‘food security’. It is more serious. It is about saving a generation of African children from starvation,” Mr Teulan said.
He appealed to the Australian Church to pray for the health of Africa’s children.
“And we ask you to give your support to our children’s programs in Ethiopia and Eritrea as they are playing their part in helping children living through the worst drought in living memory survive to adulthood,” he said.
To donate to Catholic Mission’s Horn of Africa Children’s Appeal phone 1800 257 296 or visit the website www.catholicmission.org.au
To donate to Caritas Australia’s East Africa Crisis Appeal go to the website
www.caritas.org.au/eastafricacrisis or phone toll-free 1800 024 413 or send a cheque to Caritas Australia, 24-32 O’Riordan St, Alexandria, Sydney 2015.
