Mitchell to announce help for 1 million drought victims on camp visit with charity heads

16 July 2011

The International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell will announce today a new package of support for drought victims on a visit to Kenya with the Head of the Disasters Emergency Committee, Brendan Gormley, and the Chief Executive of Save the Children, Justin Forsyth.

The British Government will provide emergency assistance for more than 1 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia as the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa worsens.

Andrew Mitchell will visit Dadaab refugee camp, where he will meet families forced to leave their homes in Somalia in order to survive. He will also visit a hospital in northern Kenya, where he will see Save the Children’s life-saving work with acutely malnourished Kenyan children.

The £52.25 million package will provide emergency assistance to:

• 500,000 people in Somalia, including treatment for nearly 70,000 acutely malnourished children
• over 130,000 people in Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, including access to clean drinking water and health care for one third of refugees
• over 100,000 people in Dolo Ado refugee camps in Ethiopia, including access to shelter, clean drinking water and treatment for starving children
• 300,000 Kenyans, including special rations to prevent malnutrition in children under the age of five and breastfeeding mothers

Speaking ahead of the visit, Andrew Mitchell said:

"People across Britain have responded with great generosity to appeals by British NGOs working in the Horn of Africa. But the situation is getting worse – and is particularly devastating in Somalia, where families already have to cope with living in one of the most insecure countries in the world.

"More than 3,000 people every day are fleeing over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya, many of them arriving with starving children. The international community must do more to help not only refugees but also those victims of the drought who remain in Somalia."

Disasters Emergency Committee Chief Executive Brendan Gormley said:

"The need to scale up the response to this disaster is urgent so I am extremely pleased that the Secretary of State has announced this further UK government funding today.

"Combined with the extraordinary generosity of the UK public to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal, we can truly say that the UK is playing a leading role in responding to this disaster.

"There is still however a great deal more to be done before we can say we have safeguarded the lives of the 10 million people at risk."

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children, said:

"Over the past few days, I’ve seen first hand the enormous suffering the drought is causing in the Dadaab refugee camp and across northern Kenya. Families I’ve met are absolutely desperate for food and water, and we know that the situation in Somalia is even worse.

"The UK government’s extremely welcome announcement, combined with the overwhelming response of the British people, will help save hundreds of thousands of lives threatened by the worst drought in living memory."

Andrew Mitchell welcomed the Kenyan Government’s decision to open the Ifo II camp in Dadaab and set up a reception centre for refugees at the Somali border, which Britain had been calling for. The International Development Secretary will be meeting Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Internal Security Minister George Saitoti to discuss the challenges the refugee flows present to Kenya, and the impact of the drought in Northern Kenya.

For more information, please contact the Department for International Development press office on 020 7023 0600 or email: pressoffice@dfid.gov.uk