Ending drought emergencies: A commitment to sustainable solutions

Heads of Horn of Africa countries and the UNON Director Ms Sahle -Work Zewde ( seated right ) during the Conference

(September 9, 2011, UNIC Nairobi ) - A summit on the Horn of Africa Crisis was held in Kenya from 8-9 September 2011 at the UN Office at Nairobi (UNON). The summit was officially opened by President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya who thanked all those who supported the holding of the summit noting how critical the meeting was to devising long lasting solutions to the current crisis facing the Horn of Africa.

In his message presented by Under-Secretary- General and Director General of UNON, Ms Sahle-Work Zewde, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commended the Government of Kenya for convening the summit, signaling a firm resolve not to allow another famine in the region.

“It is not an option just to “blame the rain”. Adaptation and risk reduction must be our priorities going forward. We need to work on two levels: first, maintaining the response to the humanitarian crisis, and second, undertaking more long-term efforts to ensure that populations will not be at risk when the rains fail.” he stressed.

The Secretary-General acknowledged how some countries in the region had devised effective programmes to ensure that droughts do not become emergencies. However he noted how Somalia, on the other hand, was the worst-affected country in the region with a combination of drought, inflation, poor governance and conflict.

Mr. Ban called on the countries of the region, together with the African Union, IGAD, the United Nations and other development partners to turn the crisis into an opportunity and build on lessons learnt in order for famine to be history. Read full Secretary General Message

At the end of the summit, a Nairobi Declaration was adopted which, among other commitments, undertook to enhance the provision of timely and actionable early warning information to all actors by strengthening the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre.

In addition, there will be launches of regional projects to address the underlying causes of vulnerability in drought-prone areas, with emphasis on pastoralists and agro-pastoralists to promote disaster risk reduction, ecosystem rehabilitation and sustainable livelihood practices.

The summit was attended by Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, the African Union, IGAD, United Nations and other development partners.