29/04/06 (B348-A) East Africa: UN Relief Official Sees First-Hand Human Cost of Drought (UN News Service (New York). Comme on pouvait le supposer, Guelleh a versé des larmes de crocodile sur la population djiboutienne victime de la soif, afin d’obtenir de l’argent pour lui …(Info lecteur – En anglais)

_____________________________________ Note de l’ARDHD
Comme d’habitude Guelleh se sert de la population pour demander des aides. N’oublions pas que si la population est tombé dans cet état de détresse, c’est parce qu’il a détourné toutes les aides internationales et qu’il a anéanti l’économie.

Quand il essaye de faire croire que les Populations djiboutiennes sont moins aidées que les autres, parce que pas assez nombreuses, il nous fait hautement rire :

Djibouti est le pays d’Afrique qui reçoit le plus fort montant d’aides et de subventions par habitants, non seulement de la France, mais aussi des USA, de la communauté européenne, du Japon et de la Chine en particulier.

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April 27, 2006
Posted to the web April 27, 2006

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The top United Nations relief official for the Horn of Africa, on a week-long mission to the drought-stricken region, today saw first-hand the human cost of the scourge during a visit to a hospital treating malnourished children in Djibouti.

« Because Djibouti is a small State there is always the danger that it can be forgotten by the international community and so it is one of my tasks to ensure Djibouti is not forgotten, » Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa Kjell Magne Bondevik said of the small nation, where 150,000 people, about a third of the total population, are at risk.

« Treating them [malnourished children] and reducing the number in the future must be a priority for the Government and humanitarian community through development programmes, » he added during his visit to the Government-run Balbala Hospital on the outskirts of Djibouti City, where some 70 severely malnourished children are treated each day.

During his one-day visit, the second stage of his five-nation mission, Mr. Bondevik met with President Ismail Omar Guellen, as well as key Government ministers, representatives of donor countries, the UN country team, and the executive secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organization.

Considered a neglected emergency, Djibouti is suffering its fourth straight year of drought, with 70,000 people directly affected and receiving food aid. Loss of livestock ranges from 20 to 80 per cent and malnutrition has reached critical levels.
Coping mechanisms in Djibouti are seriously eroded due to the cumulative effect of recurrent drought, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Given the rampant poverty in the region, problems associated with the drought will not be redressed through rainfall alone. « The vulnerability is intricately linked to the general level of poverty and exacerbated by capacity constraints of government institutions to provide basic services at local levels, » Mr. Bondevik said. « Today, I saw firsthand the desperate living conditions that face 42 per cent of the population who live below the poverty threshold. »

Djibouti is part of the $426-million regional appeal for the Horn of Africa to support the needs of more than 8 million people. Djibouti is seeking $9 million of which less than $2 million has been secured to date. The funds that have been received come from emergency grants from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

On the first leg of his mission yesterday, Mr. Mr. Bondevik met with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and underlined that the UN would concentrate on securing the necessary resources for immediate humanitarian needs and long-term food security interventions in support of government initiatives.

Mr. Bondevik, a former Norwegian Prime Minister appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Special Humanitarian Envoy