The United States will be providing some 50 million U.S. dollars in additional aid for refugees and drought-hit areas in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.The U.S State Department expressed deep concern about the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, in particular the hard-hit Somali population. “Despite the end of famine conditions in February, nearly 10 million people in the region still require humanitarian assistance,” the agency said in a statement. “For this reason, the United States government is providing nearly 50 million dollars in aid for refugees and drought-affected communities in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya in addition to what we have already provided,” the agency said. It also urged other donors to contribute more to the United Nation’s 1.5-billion-dollar 2012 Consolidated Appeal for Somalia, which stands at only 179 million dollars, in helping break the cycle of hunger and famine in the Horn of Africa. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that Washington has provided nearly 1 billion dollars in humanitarian aid to the region since early 2011. “And our sustained commitment has demonstrated the best of America, helping to undermine the extremist narrative of terrorist groups like al-Shabaab in Somalia,” she said. In addition to the emergency aid, the United States is leading efforts to address the root causes of hunger and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa by improving agricultural systems under the Feed the Future initiative.
