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Somalia

EU urgently needs to deliver emergency aid in response to Somalian famine

With the famine in Somalia and the surrounding region continuing to deteriorate, Green MEPs have called for the EU to urgently mobilise emergency humanitarian aid for the region. Green development spokesperson Ska Keller said:

"The situation in Somalia and the surrounding region has deteriorated dramatically in the past few days and the EU cannot continue to sit on its hands and remain an idle observer. Current EU humanitarian aid for the refugee camps in Kenya and aid to the wider region is a drop in the ocean (1). The EU urgently needs to deliver an emergency relief response of sufficient scale to respond to the crisis, while member states must also step up their aid.

"This current humanitarian disaster in the region again throws the spotlight on the continued absence of a coherent EU strategy for the Horn of Africa. Instead of developing a coherent political strategy, the EU's approach is characterised by its military and security focus, preventing the EU from playing a constructive role in the development of the region."

Green security spokesperson Reinhard Bütikofer added:

"In stark contrast to the total lack of funding for EU humanitarian aid, there remains significant financial support for military action. The EU's two military programs for Somalia - ATALANTA and EUTM - amount to around €1.5 billion per year. Furthermore, with these military measures the EU must side with the fully incompetent and corrupt transitional government, which means that EU humanitarian aid providers, in particular those with access to the famine-stricken provinces of Bakool and Lower Shabelle, are left denied. Those regions are controlled by the Islamist militia Al Shabab-Miliz, which is in open conflict with the transitional government."

(1) The EU currently provides €6 million in humanitarian aid to the refugee camps in Kenya and a mere €27.8 million for the whole region.

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Responsible MEPs

Reinhard Bütikofer
Reinhard Bütikofer
Member
Ska Keller
Ska Keller
Member

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