The German government has established a task force with a mission to help fight global hunger.
The task force will ensure systematic management and effective coordination of German aid operations on the ground relating to rural development and food security. It is expected to depend on and boost current cooperation with international groups fighting hunger.
Stefan Schmitz, chief of rural development and food security at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, or BMZ, will lead the task force.
According to BMZ State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz, reducing hunger in the Horn of Africa is a top priority for the task force.
Beerfeltz said in an Oct. 14 news release: “The situation on the ground is shocking. At present, the most important thing is emergency aid to save human lives. However, such emergency aid must not undermine any efforts the countries themselves are able to undertake. Then we need political solutions quickly for Somalia’s stabilisation. But in parallel, we already need to come up with longer-term strategies for the entire region and for Africa as a whole. After all, it is not acceptable that people in the Horn of Africa are starving while not very far away, near Mount Kenya, harvests are good. For example, intra-African trade relations are far too weak and road connections, much too poor. We will combine our forces to address these things and bring about lasting change.”
Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.
