Pope makes FAO donation for famine in East Africa

(ANSA) - Rome, July 21 - The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Friday that Pope Francis has made an unprecedented move with a €25,000 donation to the United Nations agency's efforts for people facing food insecurity and famine in East Africa.
    The pope said the funds are "a symbolic contribution to an FAO programme that provides seeds to rural families in areas affected by the combined effects of conflicts and drought".
    The Argentine pontiff's remarks were contained in a letter written to FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva by Monsignor Fernando Chica Arellano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN food agencies in Rome. The pope's gesture was "inspired also by the desire to encourage governments" to support the response, Chica wrote.
    Famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in February and, while the situation has eased after a significant scaling up in the humanitarian response, some six million people in the country are still struggling to find enough food every day, the FAO said. The the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in five other East African countries - Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda - is currently estimated at about 16 million, an increase of about 30% since late 2016, it added.