JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (ADV) – The Federal Government of Somalia and aid agencies operating in the country have launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).
Somalia’s Humanitarian Coordinator, Peter de Clercq, said climatic shocks like the recent poor rains and the cumulative effects of years of the ongoing conflict continue to cause suffering and destroy people’s livelihoods in the country.
“Unless aid agencies can sustain the aid operation or immediately scale it up in some worst drought-hit areas early in the year, the progress made thus far is under severe threat, as Somalia remains in the grip of one of the most complex and long-standing crises in the world,” said
The 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan aims to address underlying causes to long standing issues in Somalia. It calls on donors to provide sufficient and early funding to sustain aid operations in the country this year.
The response plan seeks $1.08 billion to provide life-saving assistance and livelihood support to 3.4 million Somalis affected by conflict, climatic shocks and displacement across the country.
De Clercq has urged the international community to continue providing early and sufficient humanitarian funding.
“Alongside life-saving support, a substantial investment in resilience-building and development solutions will be critical to ultimately end need and allow people to fend for themselves with dignity,” he added.
In May last year, cyclone Sagar devastated parts of Somaliland and Puntland. Due to sustained humanitarian assistance and rains in the first half of 2018, the number of severely food-insecure people decreased by 54 percent between 2017 and 2018, from 3.3 to 1.5 million.
© Bur-JHB – N.N – African Daily Voice (ADV) – Follow us on Twitter : @ADVinfo_en
