EDRMC urges int’l community to continue humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, December 11, 2023 (FBC) – The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC) called on the international community to continue its humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia.

The African Union Commission and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) announced today the 2024 international humanitarian aid situation.

On the occasion, Chief Commissioner of EDRMC, Ambassador Shiferaw Teklemariam, said that the Horn of Africa is repeatedly facing many challenges inflicted by climate change.

He said that integrated strategic cooperation should be strengthened to overcome these challenges.

Ambassador Shiferaw stated that Ethiopia is making its own contribution by implementing the Green Legacy program to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

According to him, Ethiopia is working to provide a common strong solution by coordinating with neighboring countries in addition to its own activities in the sector.

On the other hand, Ethiopia has only received 30 percent of the 3.9 billion US dollars it expected for humanitarian aid in 2023, the EDRMC chief disclosed.

He mentioned that this is small compared to the plan. In that regard, the financial assistance is mostly used for emergency assistance, Shiferaw further disclosed.

Indicating that the amount of financial resources used for risk reduction is small, the EDRMC chief noted that this should be balanced through a fair allocation of resources.

Shiferaw stressed that the international community should make a sustainable and reasonable financial investment in the field of humanitarian aid.

Ramesh Rajasingham, representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that by 2024, 140 million people in Africa will need humanitarian assistance.

According to him, climate change and the occurrence of pandemics as well as income inequality among citizens are the driving factors for this.

In particular, women and children are particularly vulnerable, the OCHA official said, adding that these activities should be carried out on a large scale.