News: UAE donates six million USD for essential UNICEF mitigation efforts in Ethiopia
By Fraol Bersissa @FiraolBe
Addis Abeba: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has provided the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) response in Ethiopia with 6 million USD for its assistance programs for Ethiopian children. Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia, said that “UNICEF is extremely grateful to the UAE government for this generous contribution. It comes at a critical time to address the malnutrition crisis in the country.”
Malnutrition has been affecting Ethiopia at a worrying rate, with 600,000 children across the drought-challenged regions of Oromia, Somali, Afar, and SNNPR. Adding on the impact it would have, he added that “This funding will enable us to procure much-needed ready-to-use therapeutic food which will save the lives of countless children.” The UAE has augmented its assistance to programs being implemented in Ethiopia, as war, conflict, economic uncertainty, and drought have occurred throughout the country.
The UAE had previously contributed 60 million USD to aid the World Food Program’s (WFP) humanitarian response to the more than 13 million people needing food assistance in the regions of Tigray, Amhara, and Afar.
These contributions from the UAE and other critical donors had permitted the continuance of the flow of aid into Northern Ethiopia, following a government-announced truce in March and planting season, according to the UNICEF. Truck convoys of food medicine and oil have been driving into Tigray during the months of June and July in attempts to alleviate the ongoing crisis in the region specifically, and the entire Northern segment of Ethiopia generally.
New contributions from the UAE and other key donors have allowed WFP to continue scaling up its operations in Northern Ethiopia during a critical time for communities ahead of the planting season and since the Government’s announcement of a humanitarian truce in March. WFP-led convoys have been flowing at pace into Tigray over the past ten weeks, over 3,800 trucks have delivered over 130,000 tonnes of food and other lifesaving humanitarian supplies. AS
