Humanitarian need remains very high in many humanitarian crisis situations in Africa. Germany has therefore made an additional 8.2 million euros available for humanitarian relief projects run by UN organisations and NGOs in Africa.
Markus Löning, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, issued the following statement on the move:
Humanitarian assistance is more important than ever before. Humanitarian assistance alleviates the suffering of men, women and children who have been forced to leave their homes or otherwise adversely affected by natural disasters or war. Though we may all have our attention fixed on Syria at this time, we must not forget the desperate circumstances of the many refugees in Africa.
By way of example, one of the projects receiving this extra German funding from the Federal Foreign Office budget is the assistance that the UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is providing in Chad. The UNHCR needs the money to look after people who have had to flee conflict zones in the Sudan and the Central African Republic. Germany’s additional funding will also go to support food aid supplied to the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Kenya and Mali by the World Food Programme (WFP). In this way, we can prevent WFP relief projects, often so crucial to the survival of people on the ground, having to fold due to lack of funds. A further 500,000 euros from the Federal Foreign Office budget will go to the WFP for its humanitarian air service in the Sahel, a service which is fundamental to ensuring humanitarian relief in remote and unsafe areas.
Africa also remains a focus of cooperation with non governmental organisations (NGOs). Germany is to arrange for humanitarian aid totalling up to 1.7 million euros for the Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic, as well as Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before the end of 2013. So far in 2013, Germany has already provided humanitarian assistance projects around the world with approximately 240 million euros from the Federal Foreign Office budget, around 48 million euros of it earmarked for humanitarian emergencies in Africa.