Remarks by Federica Mogherini at a joint press point with the German Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel on the situation in the Horn of Africa

Remarks by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini at a joint press point with the German Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel on the situation in the Horn of Africa

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Together with Sigmar [Gabriel, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs] we thought that it was a good occasion – the fact that we have so many ministers here today in Brussels for the Syria Conference [Brussels Conference "Supporting the future of Syria and the region"] – to have also a short but important moment to gather some of them and focus on our common response to one of the most terrible humanitarian situations the world is facing in the Horn of Africa with the need to coordinate our response and increase the level of reaction of the international community.

In particular the Horn of Africa region is in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, with a situation that is particularly critical in Somalia and Sudan, but millions are also suffering in Kenya and Ethiopia, not to mention other countries in the region.

There are two overlapping humanitarian crises, both of them man-made and we tackled both levels of this. One triggered by conflict, leading to wide-scale displacement of people; and the other one driven by climate conditions, with severe droughts having contributed to food insecurity in several countries in the region. The two together pose a very serious threat – also to the security of the region and the overall stability of entire regions and societies.

We exchanged not only our assessments but also decided to scale up our already ongoing assistance. We call for more partners worldwide to provide much needed humanitarian assistance for the several millions already suffering famine or being at risk of suffering it. The European Union on its side has decided recently to add to the ongoing humanitarian assistance for facing the drought in the Horn of Africa an additional support of €165 million.

I was visiting Addis Abeba just recently and had the chance to discuss this with authorities locally but also with the African Union Commission, as we want to partner as much as possible with our African friends there but also with the wider international community.

And I would like to thank Sigmar Gabriel [the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs] for taking this initiative today in Brussels and obviously we will continue to work closely together with Germany and with others – EU member states and non-member states – to make sure that this doesn't turn into a major catastrophe in the coming months.