Posted on 31 May 2023
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have declared they will be extending NZ $7.75 million to support the drought and humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. This was first announced by New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta at a United Nation pledging event held in New York last week.
Mahuta explained that the government has “made NZ $2 million available to six Aotearoa New Zealand NGO partners to respond to food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.” The other NZ $5.75 million will go to “the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Food Programme and the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund to support their responses in Ethiopia and Somalia”, she says.
The Horn of Africa is suffering from its longest, most severe drought on record. Increased humanitarian support is critical, with food insecurity leaving over 43.3 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya requiring urgent and lifesaving assistance.