New York, Dec 9 2011 12:10PM
The United Nations humanitarian chief today welcomed the announcement by Sweden, already one of the key donors to UN aid operations, of another $10 million in funding to help with the response to the crisis engulfing the Horn of Africa.
Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, has spent the past two days in Sweden meeting with top officials to discuss the situation in the Horn of Africa and other humanitarian issues.
Ms. Amos – who described the situation in the Horn of Africa as "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world" – noted that at least four million people continue to need urgent assistance in Somalia alone, with people also suffering in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya as a result of drought, famine and insecurity.
"Sweden's contribution is vital if we are to sustain the fragile progress made this year," she said in a statement issued in Stockholm, the country's capital.
The donation will be used to help fund emergency food supplies, the provision of clean water and treatment for severely malnourished children.
During her visit Ms. Amos met with Gunilla Carlsson, Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation; several key parliamentarians; UN officials; Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, the Director-General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); and representatives of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that deal with humanitarian issues.
Sweden, the second largest donor to both the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has contributed $123 million to the Horn of Africa crisis so far this year.
Dec 9 2011 12:10PM
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