South Africa: Play your Part for Somalia!
5 August 2011
The International Marketing Council of South Africa, as part of its Play Your Part campaign, has added its voice to the call for South Africans to donate whatever they can spare for people starving in Somalia, where nearly half the population is now estimated to be in crisis.
International Marketing Council (IMC) CEO Miller Matola, speaking on Radio 702 earlier this week, echoed a similar call made on SABC 2's Morning Live programme on Thursday by International Relations Deputy Minister Marius Fransman, urging South Africans to come to the aid of their fellow Africans.
In adverts run in newspapers on Friday, and on its Play Your Part campaign website, the International Marketing Council (IMC) directs South Africans to disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers, which has been mobilising contributions since the UN first announced a famine in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa country two weeks ago.
Four relief flights
Boosted by the response it has received so far, Gift of the Givers – the largest disaster relief organisation of African origin – has increased its planned relief flights to Somalia from one to four.
The organisation's first two flights left for Somalia on Sunday bearing 41 tons of supplies and a team of medical specialists, followed by a third flight on Thursday, with a fourth flight scheduled to leave on Monday.
"We have a team on the ground in Mogadishu," Gift of the Givers says on its website, "have identified several camps where the medical teams and supplies have to be utilised, and are also in negotiations with the different parties to ensure safe and effective passage of our team and supplies."
Three more areas hit by famine
The United Nations has now declared famine in five areas in the drought-ravaged country, where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden announced this week that the Afgoye corridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, as well as the Middle Shabelle region were now in a state of famine. On 20 July, the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in the southern Bakool region.
Famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20% of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30%; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10 000 persons.
The spread of famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said this week that the appeal for funds to respond to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region – which includes Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti – are only 44% covered, with an additional US$1.4-billion still required to cover unmet needs.
An estimated 12.4-million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to the OCHA.
SAinfo reporter and BuaNews
