Senator Coons chaired a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs Wednesday with witnesses from from the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and representatives of humanitarian organizations to examine conditions in the Horn of Africa following the worst regional drought in 60 years. Currently, the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance and emergency relief to the stricken region, which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, and Djibouti.
Click here for a map of the affected areas and the aid organizations at work in each country.
Since receiving record low rainfalls over the past several months, which have caused drought and contributed to reduced crop yields and the lost of livestock, these countries – and Somalia in particular – are experiencing a growing humanitarian crisis that has jeopardized the lives of millions of people. Children are especially susceptible to the effects of hunger and malnutrition that accompany famine and drought, and UNICEF has estimated that 2.3 million children in the region are acutely malnourished and half a million are at risk of imminent death. Last month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) declared the conditions on the Horn of Africa to be a major, large-scale emergency and the UN declared a famine in five regions of Southern Somalia. They are expected to declare the entire Southern area of Somalia as a famine zone within the next six weeks, and famine is expected to persist across Southern Somalia until the end of the year.
Ensuring critical aid reaches those in need has been especially difficult in Somalia, where areas in the South are controlled by al-Shabaab, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab has obstructed access to areas of Southern Somalia, and the Obama administration recently provided legal assurances to aid groups in order to ease the flow of emergency relief. “Just yesterday, the U.S. government announced an easing of restrictions on humanitarian organizations operating in Somalia in order to facilitate the delivery of aid”, Chris said in his opening statement. “I look forward to hearing from today’s witnesses about this new policy, which aims to provide additional guidance and legal assurances to U.S. partner organizations operating Southern Somalia.”
Testifying on the first of two panels at today’s hearing were Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator of USAID for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance; and Dr. Reuben Brigety, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. Testifying on the second panel were Wouter Schaap, Assistant Country Director for CARE International; Jeremy Konyndyk, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Mercy Corps; and Dr. J. Peter Pham, Director of the Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. UNICEF submitted a statement for the record.
As drought and famine conditions have worsened, thousands of Somali refugees have fled to already overcrowded refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia each day, many in need of critical medical care and emergency food relief. In the hearing, Senator Coons called on the United States and international community to continue to partner with regional governments to provide essential humanitarian aid.
“Americans have demonstrated great leadership helping those in need both domestically and abroad,” Chris noted, “and I am confident we will continue to partner with the international community to save lives and protect future generations in the Horn of Africa.”
After the hearing, Chris appeared on MSNBC’s Mitchell Reports to discuss the situation and the findings of the hearing. You can watch that below.