Kenya PM signs hunger pact
Prime Minister Raila Odinga is received by Kenya's ambassador to United States Elkanah Odembo on arrival at JF Kennedy International Airport in New York. The PM is attending the Mini-Summit on the Humanitarian Response to the Horn of Africa Crisis. PMPS
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on world leaders and international organisations to put more efforts to supporting farmers in Eastern Africa to fight hunger.
The PM said the Government of Kenya is committed to supporting initiatives that will stop extreme hunger not only in the country but also in the region.
Mr Odinga made the pledge at the UN headquarters in New York where he became the first leader to sign a charter by non governmental organisations that include Oxfam, ONE, Save the Children Fund and World Vision.
The charter calls on governments in the Horn of Africa to do everything to ensure famine never afflicts the region again.
It commits leaders to repair the international drought and food emergency warning system and to support local food production.
Mr Odinga signed the charter minutes before the start of a meeting on famine and drought between Africa and UN leaders at the UN headquarters in New York.
He signed the pact in the presence of Mr Bob Geldof and UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Baroness Valerie Amos.
Mr Odinga said Kenya is pleased to lend "strong support for a global initiative that could help in breaking the cycle of drought and famine that periodically devastates the Horn of Africa".
He said the recent drought in the region has made leaders more aware than ever before that the systems currently in place to prevent or alleviate famine are no longer tenable.
Mr Odinga said the Summit Kenya hosted two weeks ago committed to a radically transformed strategy to tackle drought and famine.
The Nairobi Initiative committed to a strategy that abolishes the artificial divisions between humanitarian assistance, recovery and enhanced agricultural production, the PM said.
"These dimensions of famine must all be addressed simultaneously, not sequentially, if we are ever to break this cycle," Mr Odinga said.
He said the strategy would give pastoralists, peasant farmers and producers a fighting chance to avert disasters that befall them through drought.
