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.
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