Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene 2014 Sept - Oct Vol. 9 No.5 | Page 6

NEWS in brief

Around Africa

Currently the power plant project which will be Africa’s
largest is 36% completed and will take the east African
nation up to six years to fill the dam’s 74 billion cubic-metre
reservoir.
Ethiopia is executing a number of power mega projects
planning to export hydro power processed electricity to
neighbouring countries as part of the country’s efforts to
alleviate poverty and join middle income countries.
According to researchers, Ethiopia could earn up to 2
million Euros every day from power exports when the
current power plant projects get completed.

Kenya
Red Cross Calls for $9 Million to Avert Drought “Tragedy”
in Kenya
Fast action is needed to prevent a hunger “tragedy” in
Kenya, three years after its last devastating drought, the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) said on Thursday in an appeal for $9.25
million.
The money will be spent on water for humans and livestock,
health and nutrition services, school feeding programmes
and the distribution of seeds to farmers to plant ahead of
expected rains in October, it said.
More than a quarter of children in some areas affected
by lack of rain are suffering from malnutrition, and the
number of Kenyans needing food aid is expected to rise to
1.5 million over the next six months.
“As we learned in 2011, without immediate action to
address Kenya’s humanitarian needs and to respond to the
warning signs of a crisis in already vulnerable communities,
it will lead to tragedy, and we are already very late,” Abbas
Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society,
said in a statement.
Kenya’s annual long rains, between March and May, were
poor and food prices are rising due to inflation and higher
fuel prices.

Drought “Tragedy” in Kenya

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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2014

Drought is causing increasing hardship across the region,
including Somalia. One million Somalis urgently need food
aid due to worsening drought and conflict, a 20 percent
increase since January, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The IFRC said the Kenya appeal is for money “to mitigate
the situation before it becomes catastrophic” in six priority
counties: Baringo, Marsabit, Samburu, Mandera, Isiolo and
Garissa. Most are in arid northern Kenya, where nomads
roam with livestock.
Close to 650,000 people will benefit from the aid up to June
2015, IFRC spokesman Benoit Carpentier told Thomson
Reuters Foundation.
In Marsabit North and Turkana Central region, 29 percent
of children are malnourished, up from 25 percent and
17 percent respectively a year ago, Carpentier said. The
emergency threshold for malnutrition is 15 percent.
The government, working with aid agencies, says that
1.5 million Kenyans will need food assistance over the
next six months, up from 1.3 million in February, World
Food Programme (WFP) regional spokeswoman Challiss