Following the appeal launched a few weeks ago by the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini, the organization of world's parliaments and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sent a joint mission composed of legislators from donor countries to the northern Kenyan province of Garissa. The mission reported to the 114th IPU Assembly in Nairobi today.

Speaking of behalf of the parliamentarians, British Member of Parliament John Austin said, "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, to take emergency steps to expedite relief. We shall also testify within our constituencies to the situation in the areas we visited, " he added.

Mr. Per Engebak, UNICEF Regional Director of Eastern and Southern Africa, said that UNICEF had appealed for more than $81 million for immediate life saving interventions, "but so far had received only $27 million, or one third of the funds needed". He recalled that there are more than 8.7 million people affected in the five countries of the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia) and that 4.5 million of these people are children, including 1.5 million children under five. "The vast majority of these populations are pastoral and the drought has exacerbated the very fragile situation in which they live. This has led to unacceptably high rates of child malnutrition and we know that children have died as a result", he said.

"We are very grateful that the IPU has addressed this matter, and look forward to working together to secure scaled-up short-term programmes that save lives, but just as importantly, medium- and longer-term solutions to address the extreme vulnerability of pastoral populations in the region. The message that I want you to take back to your Parliaments is that children's lives and the unique mode of life of these pastoral people are today under very serious threat in the five countries of the Horn of Africa," he concluded.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 146 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer Phone: +254 20 216 469 Mobile: +254 0727 704 981 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org Kenyan Information Officer of the 114th Assembly: Mrs. Susan Mumbi Njuguna, Press Officer. Phone +254 20 250 702 E-mail: susannjuguna@yahoo.com