According to the United Nations more than 12 million people in
Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are currently in need of
humanitarian aid and that number is expected to rise. "If we are
to avoid this crisis becoming an even bigger catastrophe, we
must act now" said Valarie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
and head of the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), which issued yesterday's appeal. The emergency is
expected to persist for at least three to four months, and the
number of people needing humanitarian assistance could increase
by as much as 25 per cent, OCHA said, putting strain on the work
of UN agencies. An OCHA spokesperson said in Geneva that the
request for funds lifts the Horn of Africa appeal to a total of
$2.4 billion, of which $1 billion has been received so far. OCHA
reports that, driven by the worst drought in 60 years, some
1,300 new Somali refugees arrive daily in Kenya, several hundred
more flee to Ethiopia and at least 1,000 others crowd into the
capital, Mogadi