Conflict-ravaged Somalia, Ethiopia top aid group’s 2023 watch list
The International Rescue Committee lists 20 countries, 11 of them in Africa, that are at greatest risk of new or worsening crises next year
14 December 2022 - 09:22
byEstelle Shirbon
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Ethiopian refugees wait in lines for a meal at the Um Rakuba refugee camp in the Tigray region, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border. Picture: REUTERS/BAZ RATNER
London — Somalia and Ethiopia, both Horn of Africa nations ravaged by drought and conflict, will be the countries of highest concern in 2023, according to an annual “Emergency Watchlist” issued by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid group on Wednesday.
The report lists 20 countries, 11 of them in Africa, that it says are at greatest risk of new or worsening crises next year and are home to 80% of all people facing severe food insecurity — despite accounting for just 13% of the global population.
Top of the list for the first time is Somalia, where the combined effects of a two-year drought, an Islamist insurgency and rising global food prices have caused catastrophic food shortages that are killing children and are set to worsen.
The Al-Shabaab militant group impedes humanitarian access, and an escalation of fighting between it and government forces in late 2022 suggests conflict may continue to intensify in 2023, the IRC said.
David Miliband, head of the IRC, said millions of Somalis were hungry and rich countries should not wait until an official declaration of famine to plug a $1bn funding gap in the UN’s appeal for Somalia.
“The underfunding of the appeal is an obvious demonstration that the world thinks it’s not an urgent moment. That’s a mistake,” Miliband told Reuters in an interview ahead of the release of the watch list.
Speaking generally, Miliband said many rich countries were too focused on themselves and this was not right either morally or strategically.
“The insularity, the ‘inward-lookingness’ of too many of the wealthiest parts of the world is leaving too many of the poorest parts of the world having to fend for themselves in a way that they’re unable to do,” he said.
Miliband said the war in Ukraine was worsening the problem, because rich countries were focused on that, but he singled out the US for praise, noting that it was providing 90% of aid for Somalia.
“In the US, Ukraine is not being used as an excuse to step back from tackling global issues. It’s being used by the administration as a reason to get involved in East Africa.”
Somalia has been hard-hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because it is dangerously reliant on imported food, with 90% of its wheat supplies coming from Russia and Ukraine.
In Ethiopia, where an estimated 20-million people do not have enough to eat, a ceasefire signed in November between the federal government and forces from the Tigray region after two years of war has raised hopes of improved humanitarian access.
“There has been some aid flowing through,” said Miliband. “But we’ve got an enormous amount of ground to make up.”
The other countries ranked in the top 10 on the IRC’s 2023 Emergency Watchlist are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Ukraine.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Conflict-ravaged Somalia, Ethiopia top aid group’s 2023 watch list
The International Rescue Committee lists 20 countries, 11 of them in Africa, that are at greatest risk of new or worsening crises next year
London — Somalia and Ethiopia, both Horn of Africa nations ravaged by drought and conflict, will be the countries of highest concern in 2023, according to an annual “Emergency Watchlist” issued by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid group on Wednesday.
The report lists 20 countries, 11 of them in Africa, that it says are at greatest risk of new or worsening crises next year and are home to 80% of all people facing severe food insecurity — despite accounting for just 13% of the global population.
Top of the list for the first time is Somalia, where the combined effects of a two-year drought, an Islamist insurgency and rising global food prices have caused catastrophic food shortages that are killing children and are set to worsen.
The Al-Shabaab militant group impedes humanitarian access, and an escalation of fighting between it and government forces in late 2022 suggests conflict may continue to intensify in 2023, the IRC said.
David Miliband, head of the IRC, said millions of Somalis were hungry and rich countries should not wait until an official declaration of famine to plug a $1bn funding gap in the UN’s appeal for Somalia.
“The underfunding of the appeal is an obvious demonstration that the world thinks it’s not an urgent moment. That’s a mistake,” Miliband told Reuters in an interview ahead of the release of the watch list.
Speaking generally, Miliband said many rich countries were too focused on themselves and this was not right either morally or strategically.
“The insularity, the ‘inward-lookingness’ of too many of the wealthiest parts of the world is leaving too many of the poorest parts of the world having to fend for themselves in a way that they’re unable to do,” he said.
Miliband said the war in Ukraine was worsening the problem, because rich countries were focused on that, but he singled out the US for praise, noting that it was providing 90% of aid for Somalia.
“In the US, Ukraine is not being used as an excuse to step back from tackling global issues. It’s being used by the administration as a reason to get involved in East Africa.”
Somalia has been hard-hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because it is dangerously reliant on imported food, with 90% of its wheat supplies coming from Russia and Ukraine.
In Ethiopia, where an estimated 20-million people do not have enough to eat, a ceasefire signed in November between the federal government and forces from the Tigray region after two years of war has raised hopes of improved humanitarian access.
“There has been some aid flowing through,” said Miliband. “But we’ve got an enormous amount of ground to make up.”
The other countries ranked in the top 10 on the IRC’s 2023 Emergency Watchlist are Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Ukraine.
Reuters
A million close to starvation in ‘hunger hotspots’, says UN
How the Ukraine war has affected Africa’s most vulnerable
Red Cross warns a quarter of Africans face hunger
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