Africa-Press – Angola. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) launched this Monday, a regional humanitarian appeal worth at least US$5.5 billion, to increase the internal resources of Member States affected by the El Ninõ phenomenon.
The appeal was made during the Extraordinary Virtual Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, chaired by the organization’s President-in-Office, João Lourenço, dedicated to analyzing the situation of drought and floods induced by the El Niño phenomenon, which has already affected 61 million people in the region.
According to the final communiqué of the meeting, Member States also hope to rely on the resource mobilization efforts of national, regional and international partners in response to the impacts of drought and floods induced by El Niño.
The Summit decided that an addendum to the SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal will be published in August 2024 to reflect changing humanitarian needs as more Member States finalize their in-depth assessments of the impact of drought and flood-induced by El Nino.
The meeting welcomed the pledge of US$33 million from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and US$10 million from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the SADC Regional Humanitarian Appeal and called for additional support from the international community to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Member States and affected communities.
Likewise, he welcomed the members who declared the State of Calamity and Emergency or the State of Agricultural Drought, for recognizing the severity of the drought and floods induced by the El Niño phenomenon.
In this sense, he urged other Member States and International Cooperation Partners to express their solidarity and support countries affected by national disasters.
It recommended that Member States take a proactive stance and reinforce advance action programs to mitigate climate risks predicted for the 2024-2025 season.
Member States that have not yet completed the assessment of the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon were urged to speed up the process, to allow them to estimate the scale of it.
At the meeting, an appeal was also made to SADC Member States with cereal surpluses to prioritize exports to other hundred deficit conditions.
Member States were further urged to continue to support affected communities and to develop and operationalize their disaster preparedness and response plans, with the support of the SADC Secretariat and other partners.
The note adds that this impact is felt in several sectors, such as agriculture, livelihood security, food security, nutrition, health, water and energy, hence the fact that it called for coordinated, integrated and harmonized interventions in order to face them.
In this sense, he urged other Member States and International Cooperation Partners to express their solidarity and support countries affected by national disasters.
Member States that have not yet completed the assessment of the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon were urged to speed up the process, to allow them to estimate the scale of it.
At the meeting, an appeal was also made to SADC Member States with cereal surpluses to prioritize exports to other hundred deficit conditions.
Member States were further urged to continue to support affected communities and to develop and operationalize their disaster preparedness and response plans, with the support of the SADC Secretariat and other partners.
In another aspect, the summit strongly condemned the attempted coup d’état perpetrated by a group of terrorists made up of national and foreign citizens, with the aim of destabilizing the democratic institutions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which took place on May 19, 2024, and reaffirmed its categorical opposition to government constitutional changes
In this sense, he thanked the people of the DRC and reiterated SADC’s commitment to supporting efforts made by the authorities of this country to safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty and security of the population.
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