Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene 2014 Sept - Oct Vol. 9 No.5 | Page 6

NEWS in brief Around Africa Currently the power plant project which will be Africa’s largest is 36% completed and will take the east African nation up to six years to fill the dam’s 74 billion cubic-metre reservoir. Ethiopia is executing a number of power mega projects planning to export hydro power processed electricity to neighbouring countries as part of the country’s efforts to alleviate poverty and join middle income countries. According to researchers, Ethiopia could earn up to 2 million Euros every day from power exports when the current power plant projects get completed. Kenya Red Cross Calls for $9 Million to Avert Drought “Tragedy” in Kenya Fast action is needed to prevent a hunger “tragedy” in Kenya, three years after its last devastating drought, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Thursday in an appeal for $9.25 million. The money will be spent on water for humans and livestock, health and nutrition services, school feeding programmes and the distribution of seeds to farmers to plant ahead of expected rains in October, it said. More than a quarter of children in some areas affected by lack of rain are suffering from malnutrition, and the number of Kenyans needing food aid is expected to rise to 1.5 million over the next six months. “As we learned in 2011, without immediate action to address Kenya’s humanitarian needs and to respond to the warning signs of a crisis in already vulnerable communities, it will lead to tragedy, and we are already very late,” Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society, said in a statement. Kenya’s annual long rains, between March and May, were poor and food prices are rising due to inflation and higher fuel prices. Drought “Tragedy” in Kenya 6 Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2014 Drought is causing increasing hardship across the region, including Somalia. One million Somalis urgently need food aid due to worsening drought and conflict, a 20 percent increase since January, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The IFRC said the Kenya appeal is for money “to mitigate the situation before it becomes catastrophic” in six priority counties: Baringo, Marsabit, Samburu, Mandera, Isiolo and Garissa. Most are in arid northern Kenya, where nomads roam with livestock. Close to 650,000 people will benefit from the aid up to June 2015, IFRC spokesman Benoit Carpentier told Thomson Reuters Foundation. In Marsabit North and Turkana Central region, 29 percent of children are malnourished, up from 25 percent and 17 percent respectively a year ago, Carpentier said. The emergency threshold for malnutrition is 15 percent. The government, working with aid agencies, says that 1.5 million Kenyans will need food assistance over the next six months, up from 1.3 million in February, World Food Programme (WFP) regional spokeswoman Challiss