It is heart-breaking to witness the awful situation in East Africa. It has been hit by crop failure and drought brought on by climate change.
And it has been affected by internal conflict. Now, it faces a manufactured crisis which the West has inflicted upon itself, and by extension, upon vulnerable areas of the world, like East Africa.
Illegal sanctions have had the effect of creating an energy ‘crisis’, by causing a jump in energy prices, driving runaway inflation, and leading to the price of food prices to rocket.
And sadly, Ukrainian grain is being diverted to rich Europe, away from Africa, and this is also exaggerating the East African hunger crisis.
I have signed EDM 912: Hunger in East Africa, which you see here:
Hunger in East Africa
That this House is deeply concerned about the acute hunger crisis in the East Africa region; notes that despite 36.4 million people in the Horn of Africa region suffering with hunger, the Government has cut humanitarian aid to less than a fifth of what it was in the financial year of 2017-2018 in the region; condemns the Government’s decision to abandon the 0.7 per cent target for international development spending; calls on the Government to urgently reinstate the 0.7 per cent target, and to correspondingly increase vital support to people in the regions; and resolves to continue to hold the Government to account on its broken promise on international development spending.
and via the following link:
Hunger in East Africa – Early Day Motions – UK Parliament
We are left with the option of asking this Government to step in and help with funding assistance. This is something I have done and will continue to do.
