UK pledge of £143M for Horn of Africa branded a 'moral failure'

Aid groups have criticized a £143 million (about $177 million) U.K. pledge for countries in drought and war-affected East Africa as feeble — and an 85% cut on its allocation to the region just three years ago. Speaking to a U.N. conference for the Horn of Africa on Wednesday, U.K. Development Minister Andrew Mitchell said his government was determined to “act now and do all we can to save lives.” But Bond, the U.K. network for NGOs, said the sum was “incredibly short of what is needed” while Plan International UK described it as “devastatingly short of the minimum required to prevent further disaster.” Eamon Cassidy, chief executive of CARE International UK, said 43,000 people died from the drought in Somalia alone last year, saying: “The UK Government's weak response to the devastating hunger crisis in East Africa is a moral failure.” The U.K. pledge, for the financial year 2023-2024, allocates the £143 million across six nations: Somalia, £48 million; Ethiopia, £42 million; Sudan, £21.7 million; South Sudan, £18.9 million; Uganda, £7 million; and Kenya, £5.8 million. Mitchell said “one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world,” triggered by conflict and climate change, had left around 43 million people across the Horn of Africa in need of aid. “As we’ve sadly seen in Sudan, conflict across East Africa is tearing apart communities, with women and girls bearing the brunt of the violence. Our funding could not come at a more critical moment.” But Bond Chief Executive Stephanie Draper pointed out the £143 million was just 15% of the £962 million given to the six countries in 2020, before the U.K.’s sweeping aid budget cuts kicked in. Plan International UK and CARE International UK contrasted the sum with the £860 million provided to help combat famine in East Africa in 2017. “Today’s pledging event offered a critical opportunity for the UK government to step up and save lives, as the UK did in 2017,” said Plan International UK’s Chief Executive Rose Caldwell, adding: “But they have simply not done enough.”