Mothers forced to abandon children on ‘roads of death’

EMERGENCY food centres in drought-stricken eastern Africa are overwhelmed by thousands of starving people every day and mothers are forced to abandon their dead or dying children by the roadside, aid officials said.

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, told a conference in Rome a deadly combination of natural disaster and regional conflict had created an emergency affecting more than 12 million people.

“We are seeing all the points able to distribute food completely overwhelmed ... our food is not adequate, so we are airlifting in more life saving supplies,” she said.

“We want to make sure the supplies are there along the road because some of them are becoming roads of death where mothers are having to abandon their children who are too weak to make it or who have died along the way,” she said.

She said a camp in Dadaab in Kenya for example that was built for 90,000 people was now dealing with 400,000.

Ministers and senior officials met at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome yesterday to discuss how to mobilise aid following the worst drought in decades in a region stretching from Somalia to Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

The WFP said it needed an extra $360 million in urgent funds. Oxfam said that overall another $1 billion was needed to handle the situation.

The World Bank said in a statement it was providing more than $500m to assist drought victims, in addition to $12m in immediate aid to help those worst hit.

Amid warnings that urgent action was needed to stop a humanitarian disaster spreading across the Horn of Africa, officials said there was still a chance to support people and help them resume livelihoods as farmers, fishers and herders.

Governments worldwide and the UN have faced criticism for their slow response to the severe drought but they face problems getting aid to a region in the grip of a raging conflict.

The UN has declared a famine in two regions of Somalia and warned it could spread further afield.

Years of anarchic conflict in southern Somalia have exacerbated the emergency, preventing aid agencies from helping communities in the area. Nearly 135,000 Somalis have fled since January, mainly to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.

The WFP has said it cannot reach more than 2 million Somalis facing starvation in areas controlled by Islamist militants, who imposed a food aid ban in 2010 and have regularly threatened relief groups.

A UN food agency says there will be a donors pledging conference tomorrow in Nairobi to raise as much as $1.6bn to help fight famine.

Also trying to do their part are private sector companies. A former CEO of TNT, Peter Bakker, said he would be on the phone calling top executives of food production and transport companies to see what may be able to contribute to help the United Nations speed food to starving people.

The World Bank promised to provide more than $500m to help drought victims. The money would be spent on projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia, including the worst-stricken areas in that country “where circumstances permit,” the bank said. That was a reference to al-Shabab militants, who have limited the ability of aid groups to reach victims in southern Somalia.

“Immediate relief and recovery is the first priority, and it is important to act fast to reduce human suffering,” said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.

“But we also have an eye on the long-term solutions of economic recovery and drought resilience that are key to re-establishing livelihoods and ensuring that droughts don’t take such a heavy human toll in the future.” He added that the world needs to invest in “climate-smart” agriculture, including drought-resistant seeds.