Pope Francis donates €25,000 for drought, confl ict-stricken populations

Pope Francis has donated €25,000 to Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) eff orts in supporting people facing food insecurity and famine in East Africa. According to a statement on FAO’s website, Pope Francis said the funds are “a symbolic contribution to an FAO programme that provides seeds to rural families in areas aff ected by the combined eff ects of confl icts and drought.”

Th e pontiff ’s remarks were contained in a letter written to FAO DirectorGeneral José Graziano da Silva by Monsignor Fernando Chica Arellano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN food agencies in Rome. Pope Francis’ gesture stemmed from a pledge he made in a message to FAO’s Conference on 3 July 2017 and was “inspired also by the desire to encourage Governments,” Monsignor Chica wrote in the letter. Famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in February and while the situation has eased after a signifi cant scaling up in the humanitarian response, some 6 million people in the country are still struggling to fi nd enough food every day. Meanwhile the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in fi ve other East African countries – Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, is currently estimated at about 16 million, which marks an increase of about 30 percent since late 2016.

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