MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on famine in East Africa

12.9.2011

to wind up the debate on the statement by the Commission
pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Charles Tannock, Jan Zahradil, James Nicholson, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Ryszard Czarnecki, Valdemar Tomaševski, Geoffrey Van Orden, Adam Bielan, Michał Tomasz Kamiński on behalf of the ECR Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0490/2011

B7‑0490/2011

European Parliament resolution on famine in East Africa

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to its previous resolutions on the Horn of Africa,

–   having regard to the outcomes of the pledging conference in Addis Ababa, 25 August 2011,

–   having regard to the UN Millennium Development Goals,

–   having regard to the UN Declaration on Human Rights,

–   having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

–   having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the UN has declared that 750 000 face imminent starvation in the next four months and 13.3 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti are in urgent need of emergency relief;

B.  whereas the situation in the Horn of Africa has been considered as the most serious food insecurity crisis in the world today both in terms of scale and severity;

C. whereas, in places, malnutrition rates are more than three times the emergency threshold, and tens of thousands are thought to have already died; whereas it has been predicted that the situation across the Horn will worsen before it improves, with the situation forecast to be at its most severe in October 2011 with no perspective of recovery before early 2012;

D. whereas, across the region, the crisis has been made even worse by continued conflict and insecurity, high food prices, climate change, demographic growth, lack of infrastructure and dwindling natural resources;

E.  whereas the impact of the drought on livestock has negatively evolved over the last six months from a poor livestock production to the deterioration of the livestock body conditions;

F.  whereas Somalia in particular has been the hardest hit, with 1.4 million internally displaced people, with more than half the population dependent on food aid; whereas UNICEF has reported that 780 000 children are acutely malnourished in Southern Somalia;

G. whereas according to FAO the number of Somalis in need of humanitarian assistance has increased from 2.4 million to 4 million in the past eight months, with 3 million of them in the country's south;

H. whereas the humanitarian situation in Somalia is worsened by poor governance and the ongoing conflict between rebels and government troops; whereas the militant group al‑Shabab controls many areas where famine has been declared and have proved to be inflexible in allowing western aid agencies enter the area which is severely hampering the aid effort;

I.   whereas military gains made by Transitional Federal Government forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia are providing some degree of security – aid cannot reach its intended beneficiaries in the absence of political stability and security;

J.   whereas more than 860 000 refugees from Somalia have fled to neighbouring countries, in particular Kenya and Ethiopia, in search of security, food and water with the refugee camp at Dadaab, in Kenya being overwhelmed by more than 420 000 people;

K. whereas 80% of the refugees are women and children with many experiencing sexual violence and intimidation either en route to, or in the refugee camps;

L.  whereas diseases such as cholera, measles and malaria represent a growing threat to the weakened population and that increased support flows into the health, water and sanitation is urgently required;

M. whereas the EU has committed €158 million in humanitarian relief in 2011, along with €440 million from Member States in addition to more than €680 million to the region in long-term aid in the areas of agriculture, rural development and food security until 2013;

N. whereas African Union (AU) leaders have made pledges of more than US$ 350 million, to the humanitarian operation;

O. whereas the rapid scaling up of the emergency response is of utmost importance to address the existing humanitarian needs and prevent further deterioration; whereas the total operational shortfall over the next 6 months for drought related WFP operations covering Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia stands at USD 190 million;

P.  whereas the impact of climate change has seriously affected crop yields in the region, which coupled with the global economic downturn and rising food and fuel prices has set back poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;

Q. whereas increased piracy in the Indian Ocean is severely disrupting supplies to and from the region;

1.  Expresses its deepest sympathy at the loss of life and suffering in the region; calls for increased mobilisation of Member States aid to areas where the famine is most severe to provide food aid, healthcare, clean water and sanitation supplies to the most vulnerable;

2.  Calls on all authorities and factions in the region to allow humanitarian corridors to be opened up in order to take food and aid deeper into the effected regions;

3.  Demands that all sides immediately end abuses against civilians, especially women and children and to hold those responsible to account, and ensure access to aid and the free movement of all people fleeing conflict and drought;

4.  Strongly condemns the role of the Islamist militant group, al-Shabab in obstructing aid agencies and the WFP in delivering food assistance to as many of the population as is operationally possible;

5.  Calls in future for the international community to focus their aid programmes to two levels, firstly by maintaining the response to the humanitarian crisis and secondly by undertaking more long term efforts to ensure that populations will be more resilient during times of drought in order to advert human suffering in the future;

6.  Recognises that, across the Horn of Africa, a bold approach is needed that will ensure both recovery and resilience while taking into account the environment, the economics of pastoral and nomadic livelihoods, demographic change, equity in development spending, good governance and the need to avoid dependency;

7.  Welcomes the African Union's commitments to the humanitarian operation including the AMISOM peacekeeping mission, regrets however that only 9 000 African Union peacekeepers of a promised 20 000 have been deployed in Somalia so far;

8.  Welcomes the commitments of the EU and its Member States; recalls however that the UN emergency appeal is still USD 1 billion short of what is needed; urges the international community to deliver on their commitments;

9.  Recognises that, in order to avoid future famine and food insecurity crisis in the region, Member States and the international community need to bolster the agricultural sector and accelerate investments in rural development;

10. Recognises Somaliland as a major force for stability, security and growth in the Horn of Africa; congratulates the independent democratic self governing territory for their role in opposing al-Shabab and fighting piracy in the region;

11. Instructs it President to forward this resolution to Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the UN Security Council and Secretary-General, the African Union institutions, the Governments and Parliaments of the IGAD countries, the Pan African Parliament, the ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly, the Presidency of the G20 and the governments of the EU Member States;