Countries on Wednesday pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in additional aid for the Horn of Africa as they sounded the alarm on a drought in the region and looming famines in Somalia and other countries.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years and experts say the region is on track for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season.
The United Nations has warned that parts of Somalia will be hit by famine in coming months. The projection is more severe than in 2011, when famine killed more than a quarter of a million Somalis, around half of whom were children.
“Now it is time for action,” Somalia’s special drought envoy Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame said at an event in New York during the annual high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He urged world leaders to be generous.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the people in the Horn of Africa were “staring into the abyss of humanitarian catastrophe.”
“It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the unfolding disaster, but if we act now, we can prevent the worst,” he said in a recorded message.
The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, said Washington would provide another $151 million to address needs in Somalia.
“There are a lot of challenges facing the world, but almost none as acute as this one right now,” Power said. “We still have a narrow window of opportunity to stave off famine in the Horn.”
Italy, the United Kingdom and Qatar also pledged additional funds to respond to the crisis at Wednesday’s event, but U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said more was needed.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")
