The Red Cross on Monday appealed to the international community for money to help Kenyans facing starvation.
The International Red Cross Federation said it has appealed for $2,7-million to help 200 000 Kenyans in the coastal and eastern regions of the country.
”We have a disaster on our hands and we need everyone’s solidarity,” Wilfred Machege, assistant minister in the Office of the President, told a press conference in Nairobi.
The Red Cross said funds will be used for food and the improvement of water sources. The organisation also said seeds and farming tools are needed, as many farmers have resorted to eating the seeds normally used for planting.
Last week, the United Nations, the Kenyan government and various aid agencies appealed for $97-million to help more than two million Kenyans facing acute food shortages.
Kenya has experienced repeated rain failures over the past year, followed by drought.
The World Food Programme (WFP) part of the appeal was $82-million. Among other things the WFP said it will expand a school feeding programme to make sure 1,5-million children get to eat lunch.
A WFP spokesperson said on Monday that $25-million has so far been received from donors. The organisation expected to start its emergency operation later this month.
In July, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said the country was in need of international emergency assistance at least until the beginning of 2005.
The current food shortages are a consequence of poor rains in eastern, southern and some northern areas, resulting in almost the entire crop being destroyed in several parts of the country.
Grain prices in Kenya have almost doubled while the price of livestock has gone down.
Another result of the drought is that wild animals leave the game reserves to look for water and food, in the process destroying crops vital to villagers.
The UN has said that failure of the next rains expected in October could increase the number of affected people to 3,3-million.
During the past 40 years, Kenya has gone through 10 droughts, the worst being from 1999 to 2002, when more than four million Kenyans received food aid. — Sapa-DPA