International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda appears at the standing committee on procedure and house affairs looking into Parliamentary contempt hearings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday March 18, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The announcement came as the World Health Organization warned famine conditions are likely to spread to more areas of Somalia as militant groups refuse to allow aid agencies to operate in some of the hardest-hit parts of the country.
Meanwhile, thousands of refugees continue to stream into camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, some walking for days or weeks to reach assistance.
In addition to government funds, Ottawa will match any donations Canadians make individually to charities working on drought-relief efforts in the region.
"I believe, I truly believe, that you cannot witness this type of suffering, this kind of situation without responding," said International Co-Operation Minister Bev Oda on a conference call from Kenya.
"I believe Canadians should be proud of what our government is doing on their behalf and our responsibility as a government is to ensure that people will get the help they need."
The minister is in eastern Africa to meet officials at the Dadaab camp in Kenya. The complex was originally built to hold around 90,000 people but the UN says it is now hosting over 380,000.
Half of Canada's donation will go toward food aid through the World Food Program, while the other half will be for supplies, water and sanitation and also channelled through UN agencies.
At the refugee camps, 7.5 million litres of water a day are being handed out, said Kevin McCort, president of CARE Canada, an arm of the international aid agency running the Dadaab camp.
Throughout Kenya, the World Food Program is spending $9 million a month to feed about half a million people, he said.
"When you're looking at 11 million people in urgent need and then many millions more that we hope never get to that, the $50 million is a good contribution," he said.
Aid agencies had hoped Canada would give a minimum of $40 million.
To date, Canada has contributed more than $70 million this year to humanitarian aid in East Africa. According to figures compiled by Oxfam Canada, the announcement on Friday makes Canada the second-largest donor, so far.
"It sends a really clear signal to some of the international donors, such as Germany or France or Italy or even South Africa and China and other countries who should be stepping up to the plate and have not done so to the extent that they could," said Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada.
The matching program is similar to one the government ran in response to the earthquake in Haiti, which raised more than $200 million.
Each dollar Canadians give to a registered charity doing work in East Africa will be matched by the federal government through the East Africa drought relief fund. The program is retroactive to July 6 and will run until Sept. 16, after which the government will decide how to allocate the funds.
There has been an increase in donations from Canadians over the last several days, said Fox.
"The fact that the government is matching the contributions helps overcome a certain reticence, or a certain distance some people have in these situations because it is an added incentive," said Fox.
International aid groups began sounding the alarm about food security in the Horn of Africa last year as severe drought began to afflict Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia.
In Somalia, drought devolved into famine because the Somali government and many aid agencies are banned from areas under control of the military group al-Shabab.
The Canadian Press, with files from The Associated Press