Australia boosts humanitarian aid to starving Africans

The Campaign for Australian Aid has welcomed a federal government move to provide an additional $19.3 million in humanitarian assistance to people at risk of starvation in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

“We’ve seen the government strip the aid budget to its bare bones recently and have been campaigning for more funding towards what is the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II,” director for the Campaign for Australian Aid, Tony Milne said.

“We want to thank the 31,176 people who have signed our petition to [Australian Foreign Minister] Julie Bishop to increase aid for East Africa’s deadly famine by at least $20 million, and we acknowledge Julie Bishop for responding. While we welcome this much needed contribution and our government in recognizing that the potential of an entire generation is at risk, more needs to be done to avert a humanitarian crisis, including in Yemen and Somalia.”

Bishop announced on Monday the new funding would bring Australia’s contribution towards the international response to conflict, drought and famine in Africa to approximately $68 million since July 2016.

[Australia ProBono]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.