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EU boosts aid to Ethiopia amid worsening drought

Xinhua, April 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union on Friday announced 122.5 million euros (140 million U.S. dollars) to help Ethiopia deal with a deteriorating humanitarian situation caused by the "El Nino" extreme weather phenomenon.

This new support aims to combine a humanitarian response and early recovery assistance with initiatives that address the root causes of fragility and vulnerability, European Commission, the EU's executive body said in a statement.

"Our support aims at combining short-term lifesaving with strengthening Ethiopia's resilience by addressing the root causes of fragility and vulnerability. We can build on the past successes of Ethiopia which has already stepped up its efforts to tackle the drought crisis," EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica said.

The "El Nino" extreme weather phenomenon is characterized by rising temperatures of surface sea water, which interact with the atmosphere and cause different extreme events, from floods to droughts.

This strongly impacts food security, health, and access to water and hygiene conditions of millions of people living in already vulnerable regions. The worst-hit country so far is Ethiopia.

The EU said it has been providing both emergency humanitarian funding and long term development support to Ethiopia cope with these various challenges.

According to the EU, it has provided over 200 million euros in humanitarian aid to the country in the last five years. Meanwhile, Ethiopia is also the largest beneficiary of EU development assistance, with a country program of 745 million euros for 2014-2020. Enditem