The North-Eastern areas of Kenya are suffering a drought which has had very severe consequences on the lives of the largely nomadic and pastoral populations living in the region. The crisis extends beyond the Kenyan borders to encompass a large part of the Horn of Africa.

We wish to reiterate the appeal already made by IPU President Casini to provide immediate and generous assistance to the populations concerned. Having witnessed for ourselves the distressing sight of people, and particularly women and their children, suffering the impact of malnutrition and the various diseases to which it exposes them, we believe that this appeal is more urgent than ever.

It is our intention to report to our parliaments and governments on what we have seen. We shall encourage them to consider their assistance to the drought-stricken areas and where appropriate take emergency steps to expedite relief. We shall also testify within our constituencies to the situation in the areas we visited.

The emergency item approved at this Assembly also draws attention to the need for urgent food relief in order to combat drought-induced famine and poverty in Africa. We call for rapid and substantive follow-up to the terms of this resolution. We also stress the need for sustainable solutions designed to reduce the likelihood of such disasters reoccurring.

We wish to thank UNICEF for organising this visit and believe that such on-site visits should become a more regular feature of the IPU Assemblies.

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