{"id":15250,"date":"2016-02-01T14:34:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T14:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=15250"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:01:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:01:30","slug":"visiting-drought-hit-region-of-ethiopia-ban-urges-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2016\/02\/visiting-drought-hit-region-of-ethiopia-ban-urges-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting drought-hit region of Ethiopia, Ban urges support"},"content":{"rendered":"

The international community must stand with the people of Ethiopia in their time of need, Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-moon said today, urging donors gathered in Addis Ababa to step up assistance to the country, before heading to the drought-stricken region of Oromia where he witnessed first-hand efforts under way to battle the effects of one of the most powerful El Ni\u00f1o events in recorded history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of this beautiful country are facing their worst drought in thirty years,\u201d Mr. Bantold participants<\/a> at a donors humanitarian round table convened in the Ethiopian capital in the margins of the 26th African Union Summit.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, the Secretary-General visited<\/a> the drought-stricken Oromia region with the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen, and Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>). Saying that he was \u201cvery moved,\u201d Mr. Ban visited a health post, a water borehole and a food distribution and cash transfer point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very moving experience for me as Secretary-General to witness myself how the Ethiopian Government and the United Nations agencies, the World Bank, all humanitarian workers are working together to address difficult challenges,\u201d he said noting that the area has been seriously impacted by long spells of drought caused by El Ni\u00f1o climate phenomenon. \u201cIt is important that the Government is leading this response and the United Nations is now helping: it is quite moving,\u201d he reiterated.<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General went on to say that when he saw the people working and trying to get water and trying to improve their health nutrition conditions, it took him back brought more than 60 years ago \u201cwhen

[\u2026] I was a young boy in Korea, early 1950s. As you may know, Korea had war at the time. When the war broke out, we were [in a situation] as difficult as people are now here, even more difficult at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was very much grateful to all humanitarian workers at the small health post where he had seen health workers distributing vaccines, and providing check-ups. It was impressive to see that malnutrition levels had dropped significantly and that people had been saved from malaria.<\/p>\n

\u201cÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ is committed to help Ethiopia to overcome this challenge. This challenge may last some time but with continuous concerted efforts, I think we can overcome \u2013 and I am very much moved to have seen how hard we are working,\u201d said Mr. Ban.<\/p>\n

In the Ethiopian capital, he told the donors’ meeting that the scale of the emergency is too much for any single Government. \u201cThe impact of El Ni\u00f1o is unpredictable, but experts say it is likely to affect food security for the next two years,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government of Ethiopia has shown remarkable leadership in this drought response. It has made the greatest financial contribution, allocating more than $381 million to the crisis so far,\u201d said the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief, noting that the Government-managed Productive Safety Net Programme, in partnership with the World Bank, aims to assist some eight million people with emergency food and cash transfers.<\/p>\n

Yet, while the United Nations boosted early action through some $25 million from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF<\/a>) in 2015, more is urgently needed. \u201cImmediate support for Ethiopia will save lives and avoid preventable suffering. Immediate support will also safeguard the impressive development gains that Ethiopia has made over the past years and decades, Mr. Ban explained.<\/p>\n

Such support would also strengthen Ethiopia’s national distribution channels and social support networks, and build resilience for the future, he underscored.<\/p>\n

Noting that the Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> (SDGs<\/a>) agreed by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Member States last year are based on the promise to leave no one behind, the Secretary-General said that humanitarian crises are the main reason why some 100 million people are currently \u201cleft far behind,\u201d in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Humanitarian Summit<\/a> in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May will be an opportunity to ensure that we start supporting those furthest behind first,\u201d he noted and expressed the hope that the participants at today’s event are already engaged in the Summit process. \u201cWe need to hear your voices in Istanbul,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By contributing to humanitarian aid, donors are helping to fulfil the international community’s pledge to the most vulnerable. Support for the Ethiopian Government and people through the current crisis will be a critical test of our commitment to implementing the SDGs, stressed the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe face unrelenting humanitarian needs around the world. Many are generated by conflict and displacement. These human-made crises are extremely difficult to resolve and can last for years or even decade,\u201d he noted, but stressed that the needs generated by El Ni\u00f1o are limited. \u201cWe know it will pass, and the situation will improve. This crisis will end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil it does, I urge you to make the investment that is needed now, to support the Ethiopian Government and people through the difficult times ahead, and to build for the future,\u201d said the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ News Centre<\/a>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The international community must stand with the people of Ethiopia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4,30],"tags":[451,144,4989,526,5113],"class_list":["post-15250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-news","category-secretary-general","tag-africa","tag-climate-change","tag-drought","tag-ethiopia","tag-humanitarian-aid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}