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KENYA RELEASES $40 MILLION TO STOP FAMINE December 25, 2005
Apunyu Bonny
(SomaliNet) Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki said on Saturday 24th his government was providing an extra 2.9 billion shillings ($40 million) for the drought-hit north.
"At this time of the holiday festivities, I am concerned at the situation affecting our people in some parts of the country," he said in a live address.
Several Kenyans and hundreds of livestock have already died of hunger and thirst during a three-month drought that has hit the already poor and arid northern regions of east Africa's most developed country, residents there say. But national attention has only swung to the plight of hundreds of thousands who live there -- including many nomads -- since reporters visited and came back with images of malnourished children and plains littered with animal carcasses.
Kenyans, whose economy is the strongest in an area of Africa often hit by famine, have reacted with shock. Appeals have been launched and media have reported shocking stories including baboons attacking children for food aid.
There has been growing criticism of perceived government inaction and Kibaki's decision to go to the Indian Ocean coast where many well-off Kenyans tend to spend the holiday period.