FAO secures $29 million from the Vatican to help drought-hit East Africa

Friday July 21, 2017

NAIROBI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday it has secured 29 million U.S. dollars towards supporting people facing food insecurity and famine in East Africa.

The UN agency said the unprecedented donation from head of Catholic Church Pope Francis aims to encourage governments to support FAO's emergency response.

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Pope Francis said the funds are "a symbolic contribution to an FAO programme that provides seeds to rural families in areas affected by the combined effects of conflicts and drought."

Pope Francis' gesture stemmed from a pledge he made in a message to FAO's Conference on July 3 and was "inspired also by the desire to encourage governments."

Famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in February and while the situation has eased after a significant scaling up in the humanitarian response, some six million people in the country are still struggling to find enough food every day.

Meanwhile, FAO said the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in five other East African countries - Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda - is currently estimated at about 16 million, which marks an increase of about 30 percent since late 2016.

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