ICRC ramps up humanitarian operations in Africa amid food security crisis

Geneva [Switzerland], April 5 (ANI/Xinhua): The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that it is ramping up humanitarian operations in ten African countries to support an additional 2.8 million people facing a food security crisis.

The charity said the crisis has left millions of families skipping meals every day, an alarming hunger situation that risks intensifying in the coming months.

"We are scaling up our operations in countries like Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria and Burkina Faso and many others to try and help as many people as we can, but the number of people going without food and water is staggering," Dominik Stillhart, the head of ICRC's global operations said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

Stillhart said the food crisis spans across the continent, noting that the ICRC will ramp up operations in ten countries in response, in close coordination with other components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, to support an additional 2.8 million people.

The charity said conflict, climatic shocks like the droughts in East Africa and cumulative poor rainfalls in West Africa, a dramatic rise in displaced people, and surging food and fuel prices have contributed to the overwhelming needs in the region.

ICRC said many of the affected countries are still reeling from the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic thus complicating matters further. It said more challenges include limited access to vulnerable populations due to insecurity, as well as the international armed conflict in Ukraine, which has contributed to rising food and fuel costs and longer delivery time due to supply route disruptions.

The ICRC is carrying out assistance efforts across Africa - Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania - where the food security crisis is most felt. (ANI/Xinhua)