Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NAIROBI738
2006-02-17 07:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Nairobi
Cable title:  

AMBASSADORS' FIRST HAND LOOK AT FAMINE CONDITIONS

Tags:  EAID ETRD ECON EAGR SENV PREL PGOV SOCI KE 
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VZCZCXYZ0005
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #0738/01 0480718
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170718Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9687
INFO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC PRIORITY 1230
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 1589
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4788
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 3755
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS NAIROBI 000738 

SIPDIS

NSC

AIDAC

SIPDIS

USAID/DCHA FOR MHESS, WGARVELINK, LROGERS
DCHA/OFDA FOR KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, IMACNAIRN,
KCHANNELL, LPOWERS, CABLA
DCHA/FFP FOR JDWORKEN, DNELSON, SBRADLEY
DAA/AFR, FOR KALMQUIST
AFR/EA FOR JESCALONA, JBORNS
ROME FOR FODAG
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER
STATE FOR AF/E, AF/EPS, AF/PD, AND IO
REDSO/FFP FOR NESTES
NSC FOR JMELINE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ETRD ECON EAGR SENV PREL PGOV SOCI KE

SUBJECT: AMBASSADORS' FIRST HAND LOOK AT FAMINE CONDITIONS
AND RESPONSE IN NORTHEASTERN KENYA

REF: A. NAIROBI 96 B. NAIROBI 67 C. NAIROBI 285

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000738

SIPDIS

NSC

AIDAC

SIPDIS

USAID/DCHA FOR MHESS, WGARVELINK, LROGERS
DCHA/OFDA FOR KISAACS, GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, IMACNAIRN,
KCHANNELL, LPOWERS, CABLA
DCHA/FFP FOR JDWORKEN, DNELSON, SBRADLEY
DAA/AFR, FOR KALMQUIST
AFR/EA FOR JESCALONA, JBORNS
ROME FOR FODAG
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER
STATE FOR AF/E, AF/EPS, AF/PD, AND IO
REDSO/FFP FOR NESTES
NSC FOR JMELINE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ETRD ECON EAGR SENV PREL PGOV SOCI KE

SUBJECT: AMBASSADORS' FIRST HAND LOOK AT FAMINE CONDITIONS
AND RESPONSE IN NORTHEASTERN KENYA

REF: A. NAIROBI 96 B. NAIROBI 67 C. NAIROBI 285


1. Summary: U.S. Representative to the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO),Ambassador Tony Hall,
joined Ambassador Bellamy, the Swedish Ambassador, the
Deputy U.K. High Commissioner, WFP, USAID and GOK officials
including Assistant Secretary Ibrahim Maalim and District
Commissioner Samuel Otieno among others in a visit to Wajir
in Kenya's arid North Eastern Province. The trip afforded
a first-hand look at the impacts of Kenya's on-going
drought, and the range of international and local responses
to this crisis. The trip highlighted the U.S. response to
the current WFP/GOK joint Emergency Operation (EMOP)
appeal, and created an excellent opportunity for the
Ambassador, Ambassador Hall, and others to encourage the
international community to respond quickly to Kenya's
worsening food emergency. Also discussed was the need for
the GOK to take a leadership role in formulating an
effective, long-term development plan for Kenya's arid
regions in order to break this on-going, multi-year cycle
of food insecurity. End summary.

--------------
GREATER RESPONSE TO THE CURRENT APPEAL NEEDED
--------------


2. The deadly reality of Kenya's on-going drought-induced
famine in Kenya's North Eastern Province (NEP) (and a
number of other regions) was on stark display as Ambassador
Bellamy and U.S. Representative to the Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO),Ambassador Tony Hall,
traveled to Wajir on February 13. By our invitation, the

UK High Commissioner and Swedish Ambassador joined.


3. At a visit to an OXFAM-supported GOK emergency food
warehouse in Wajir Town, the party, along with
international and local press, saw U.S. food aid (mostly
bagged maize, but also vegetable oil and corn soy blend)
enroute to community-based feeding centers in rural areas
of NEP. Ambassador Bellamy, Ambassador Hall, WFP, OXFAM,
and Kenyan officials used this venue to request timely and
generous international responses to Kenya's on-going food
emergency. To date, only the GOK and the U.S. have
provided food to support the December 2005 appeal (Ref A).
On February 8, the GOK and WFP announced an expanded
appeal, stating that at least 3.5 million Kenyans are at
risk of severe malnutrition through February 2007, and
requesting a total of 396,525 MT of additional food aid
assistance, valued at approximately $221.5 million. There
are pledges from major donors (including the EU and DFID),
but these total $13.4 million, falling drastically short of
requirements. The WFP is also actively lobbying non-
traditional donors and so far expects to receive small
donations from Luxembourg and Turkey. Current commitments
to this appeal (almost exclusively from U.S. and GOK
sources) will likely be exhausted by early April.


4. The next visit was to a water point to discuss how
local authorities and families cope with new arrivals
displaced by the drought. These (hopefully) temporarily
internally displaced persons (IDPs) had traveled great
distances looking for water for themselves and their
livestock. Many of their animals died during the journey.
The impact on the local community is enormous, since these
nomadic people are not easily organized into a larger
community with responsibilities for providing health
services.


5. At the Makauror Primary School the Ambassadors had a
first-hand look at a WFP school feeding program, which

receives the majority of its food donations from the U.S.
via the Dole-McGovern Act. [Note: The U.S. is
contributing over $10.5 million worth of corn products and
soybean oil, which is the foundation of a program feeding
more than 1,000,000 school children. This program will be
expanded during the emergency to include 500,000 additional
at-risk food insecure school children, making Kenya the
WFP's largest school feeding program. End note.] As
reported in Ref C, many students in drought-impacted areas
are dropping out of school to help herd livestock greater
distances, or simply because they are too malnourished to
attend. These school feeding programs are literally
keeping a generation of NEP students in class. A USAID/GOK
project is also adding three classrooms and four toilets at
this school as part of planned outreach to the marginalized
populations of NEP.

--------------
USG RESPONSE
--------------


6. As noted in Ref B, the U.S. has made a significant
contribution to Kenya's appeal for relief food and non-food
contributions. From September 2004 to January 4, 2006 the
United States has contributed 62,890 MT of food commodities
valued at $36.9 million for the drought emergency in Kenya.
A further contribution of 12,800 MT of vegetable oil, peas
and corn-soy blend as well as of 12,000 MT from a wheat-
maize swap, valued at $15 million has been approved and
will be delivered as soon as possible. This food will
address the immediate food needs of 1.5 million drought
victims throughout Kenya, particularly in NEP and other
pastoralist areas.


7. USAID is also currently providing $2.6 million for
water, emergency feeding and agriculture actions. USAID,
and perhaps CJTF-HOA, is moving forward on new projects to
improve local water access and supply in Northeastern
Province.

--------------
BLEAK PROSPECTS
--------------

8. For the residents of NEP, the future is bleak. Water
resources are limited in the best of times, and close to
non-existent currently. OFDA estimates that throughout
drought-impacted pastoralist areas of Kenya there is 30
percent livestock die-off, and a much higher figure in many
locations.


9. Long-range meteorological forecasts suggest that the
much anticipated "long rains" of March-May will be below
average - maybe much below. Without decent rains this
spring, not only will currently impacted areas remain under
emergency conditions, but many small-scale farmers will
have experienced a full year, or more, of failed crops,
further deteriorating the country's ability to respond and
putting many more people at risk of severe malnutrition.


--------------
NEED FOR LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
--------------

10. At a lunch hosted by the Department of Arid Lands, the
discussion focused on the need for long-term, effective
development planning to break the chronic cycle of drought
and famine in Kenya. Since 2000 Kenya has required a
significant international response to food insecurity in
many parts of the country. Ambassador Bellamy noted that
it is critical that the Kenyan government and its local and

international partners create longer term strategies to
avoid chronic food emergencies. The consensus among the
ambassadors was that a robust plan, fully backed with
unwavering political will, would be able to generate donor
assistance.


11. USAID is supporting developmental programs in some of
the worst-affected areas in Kenya, including a focus on how
pastoralist lifestyles add to the perpetual nature of the
region's food insecurity. In five Arid and Semi-Arid Lands
(ASALs) of Kenya, USAID is supporting a Title II
development to achieve sustainable improvement in food
security and household incomes.

--------------
ADDRESSING FAMINE-RELATED CONFLICT
--------------

12. The final stop on the Wajir tour was a meeting with
Representatives of the Wajir Peace and Development
Committee and Al Fadha Council of Elders, which was
organized by a USAID-funded contractor, Development
Alternatives, Inc. In recent weeks the Kenya media has had
a number of stories on inter-tribal, sometimes cross-
border, violent conflict over water, food, and grazing
land. While these groups have had great success in
bringing stability to the Wajir District, the worsening
drought conditions will certainly put their community-based
conflict resolution efforts to the test.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------

13. Through our food aid, the U.S. has taken the lead in
responding to Kenya's food insecurity, and we've received
some good press for our contributions. However, Kenya's
focus must turn away from multiple "emergency" appeals to
address slowly-unfolding, entirely anticipated, food crises
and towards development efforts that connect NEP (and other
historically neglected regions) to the rest of Kenya and
permit some market forces to benefit isolated communities.


14. One of the hard truths that the Kenyan government and
local leaders must address is that traditional ways of life
may not always be viable in the future. In the best of
times when there is adequate rainfall, Kenyans living in
the NEP face many challenges, relying largely on nature and
their livestock herds to meet most their needs. In good
years, the herders increase their animal numbers. In bad
years they are forced to sell their animals at minimal
prices as a last resort. Increasing pressure on the land
places natural limits on growth of herds and therefore the
population that can be sustained in this arid environment.


15. Designing, much less implementing, alternatives to the
traditional pastoralist lifestyle would be an enormous
challenge for any government. Yet it is this challenge
that Kenya and its arid land neighbors -- must face, and
soon.

BELLAMY



DRAFTED:
ECON:WBAIN, PAS:JABARNES

CLEARED:
DCM:LVROWE, USAID:SHAYKIN, REDSO:NESTES