East African Business Week

ARUSHA, TANZANIA: Kenya and Uganda are among the four African countries that are to benefit from the $1.88b provided by the World Bank to battle the ravaging drought and increase food security.
This follows that increase of the World Bank's assistance to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa countries from the $500m to $1.88b aimed at one of the worst droughts in more than half a century, causing mounting malnutrition, food insecurity, and displacement of people.
A statement issued in Washington last week said the announcement comes as the international community is gathering under the auspices of the United Nations in an attempt to step up support for affected countries.
The World Bank will support the common call for action led by the U.N. humanitarian agencies with support by the U.K., Australia, the European Commission, the United States, and others, said the statement.
"In addition, to addressing today's disaster, our role is to help build resilience for tomorrow, a humanitarian crisis need not and should not become a perpetual crisis, said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.
More than 13m people across the sub-region are now in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.
"While the United Nations estimates show that the financial need for immediate, short-term drought relief assistance is $2.4bn but the international appeals have resulted in $1.4bnin pledges and there is still a gap of $1bn," he explained.
Mr. Zoellick said that the revised World Bank allocation represents nearly four times the more than  $500m it initially announced in July. He explained that the allocation is based on a preliminary needs assessments conducted by bank disaster experts in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somali Refugee camps and Uganda.
The resources will be allocated over a three-phase response period, which includes the rapid response of $288m in fiscal year 2012 that ends June 30,  $384m for economic recovery through fiscal year 2014, and $1.2bn for drought resilience in the long-term. "The overall thrust of the Banks response seeks to link short-term  crisis mitigation with long-term development objectives both at country and regional levels," he added.
The statement said that the banks response plan builds on the institutions strategy for Africa, which calls for reducing vulnerability and building resilience to natural disasters and climate change by leveraging partnerships, knowledge and financing.
"Working with a vast array of partners and complementing their efforts, our most urgent priority is to save lives, restore incomes and bring back the productive capacity of families and businesses, said Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for Africa. "We are confident that this response package will help prevent an unraveling of the gains made so far, and position affected countries on a path to sustainable living," she added.
The Horn of Africa faces recurring droughts, with climate change making them more intense.
When combined with population increase and a generalized breakdown of peace and stability as in Somalia, these conditions are expected to lead to heightened risks for conflict over access to water, land and other resources.
The crisis is further compounded by rising food prices around the world, which now stand at 26% higher than a year ago.