Australia to increase hunger aid for crisis-hit East Africa

The Albanese government will deliver an extra $15m in emergency aid to assist the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, as the region battles through its worst drought in 40 years.

Turkana women carrying firewood walk past a carcass of a cow, in a drought-affected area of northern Kenya last July. Picture: Simon Maina/AFP

The Albanese government will deliver an extra $15m in emergency aid to assist the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, as the region battles through its worst drought in 40 years.

The announcement comes after seven Australian MPs travelled to Kenya to witness the humanitarian disaster, and wrote to Foreign Minister Penny Wong pleading for assistance.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts will tell an audience in Melbourne on Saturday that the government will deliver an extra $25m in emergency assistance.

The Horn of Africa will receive $15m, with another $5m sent to flood-ravaged Pakistan, and $5m to war-torn Yemen.

The funds will go towards providing food, water and other essential support, delivered through Australian and local NGOs, the Red Cross and UN partners.

Some projects will specifically support women and children.

Millions of people are facing starvation in East Africa and Yemen, due to enduring drought and conflict.

Oxfam and Save the Children estimate one person dies of hunger every 48 seconds across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

The Albanese government has now provided $25m in humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa since September 2022, along with $10m for Yemen and $10m for Africa.

In December, seven Labor, Liberal and National MPs called for a “significant’’ increase to foreign aid funding, asking the Albanese government to commit at least $120m to the devastating hunger crisis in East Africa.

Labor backbenchers Matt Burnell, Graham Perrett, Tania Lawrence and Senator Louise Pratt; the Nationals’ former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, now the shadow minister for international development; and Liberal backbenchers James Stevens and Senator Claire Chandler made the plea to Senator Wong after travelling to Kenya with the NGO Save the Children Australia.

The funding is additional to the $232m already provided to the World Food Program.

“The growing scale of food insecurity and human suffering is deeply concerning,’’ Senator Wong said. “The Australian government is committed to ensuring our humanitarian assistance responds to the greatest needs.”