KENYA: Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey visits Somali refugees in Kenya as international alarm over the famine in the Horn of Africa grows

Record ID: 361401

  • Title: KENYA: Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey visits Somali refugees in Kenya as international alarm over the famine in the Horn of Africa grows
  • Date: 4th August 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF SWITZERLAND, MICHELINE CALMY-REY, SAYING "The situation of the people and the huge population coming here in Kenya, everyday more than a thousand and three hundred people coming here in camp, it is it is a difficult situation to look at because it means a huge number of people are living in a very, very difficult situation." A T - SHIRT
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8PFUAM4M9F254LVA9PIMEZXXI
  • Story Text: Switzerland's president on Wednesday (August 3) called on the international community to continue funding aid agencies to help tackle the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa.
    The region has been hit by the worst drought for decades.
    Western governments and the United Nations have faced criticism for their slow response to the crisis, which agencies say is affecting 11 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.
    The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has said it cannot reach more than two million Somalis facing starvation in areas controlled by Islamist militants who imposed a food aid ban in 2010 and have regularly threatened relief groups.
    On a tour of refugee camps in the Dadaab area of northeastern Kenya, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey saw first hand the conditions facing refugees who survived drought and famine conditions in Somalia, then survived the arduous trek to reach safety but who still face difficulties once in Kenya. She called on the international community to do more to improve conditions for famine refugees.
    "A lot has been done until now but it is not enough, the international community has to make a bit more in order to save the lives of these people in order to allow them to live in a good, yeah to have a good life to have a future," Switzerland president Micheline Calmy-Rey said.
    Medics at Dadaab have seen a rise in numbers of level 4 malnutrition among children -- a level at which only 40 percent are expected to survive.
    Famine in the Horn of Africa may soon spread to as many as six more regions of Somalia, U.N. humanitarian aid officials say.
    The United Nations declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia -- where 3.7 million people are going hungry -- on July 20. There is always a steady trickle of Somalis coming into northern Kenya, mostly fleeing violence, but in recent months they have also been looking for food.
    "The situation of the people and the huge population coming here in Kenya, everyday more than a thousand and three hundred people coming here in camp, it is it is a difficult situation to look at because it means a huge number of people are living in a very, very difficult situation," Calmy-rey added.
    The crisis was intensified by fighting in Somalia -- much of which is controlled by Islamist al-Shabaab militias who have been preventing some aid agencies bringing in supplies.
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