ITALY DELIVERS EMERGENCY AID TO HORN OF AFRICA

UNCLAS ROME 000912

SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TO AF/E FOR MATTHEW WALSH ADN PAMELA
FIERST

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREF DJ ER ET KE SO UG PGOV PREL KPKO
PTER
SUBJECT: ITALY DELIVERS EMERGENCY AID TO HORN OF AFRICA

REF: A. STATE 70789

B. STATE 79853


1. (U) On 15 July Econoff delivered reftel demarche
concerning emergency aid to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to
Giovanni Battici, Coordinator for Italy's Emergency Aid
within the Development Cooperation section of the MFA.
Italy's main focus for aid to Somalia, Battici said, was in
building hospitals. Battici said Italy intends to fund five
regional hospitals and four smaller district hospitals, to be
built through UNOPS. Battici also said that Italy was
spending 500,000 Euros through the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Somali
refugees in Somalia. He said this was a response to the 2009
coordinated appeal and that 300,000 Euros had already been
disbursed. He also noted that Italy had given 800,000 Euros
to the World Food Program to supply Somalis with cereals, oil
and sugar. Finally, on 15 May Italy sent a humanitarian
flight with twenty two tons of emergency hygiene supplies to
Somalia to prevent the outbreak of disease. In 2008 Italy
had spent 4.4 million Euros on emergency aid to Somalia,
allocated among a bi-lateral channel (3 million Euros),the
ICRC ( 500,000 Euros),the World Food Program (700,000 Euros)
and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (200,000 Euros).


2. (U) Battici said that Italy had three initiatives in Kenya
underway. The first was a 1.8 million Euro project to
rehabilitate the water and sewage system in the Dabab refugee
camp. The second was a 2 million Euro project to support
agriculture in the Rift Valley. Italy also gave 1 million
Euros for Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya, which is
being distributed through the World Food Program. In
Ethiopia Italy does not currently have any bilateral
emergency initiatives underway, according to Battici; instead
it works through UN agencies. In response to the 2008-2009
appeal for Ethiopia, Italy gave 2 million Euros for the World
Food program, 400,000 Euros to FAO for strengthening pastoral
livelihoods, and an additional 545,000 for OCHA. Italy also
gave 123,000 Euros to the ICRC for Kenyans displaced to
Uganda. Concerning future emergency assistance for Somalia,
Kenya and Ethiopia, Battici said that the level of funding in
the budget would not be known until December 2009.


3. (U) Information in this cable is a partial response to
State 079853 which requests support from the international
community for the Somalia Transitional Federal Government
following its agreement with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Key
contacts in the GOI MFA on this issue have not returned from
August leave; post will contact them immediately upon their
return.
DIBBLE