The European Commission has adopted a €900 million humanitarian budget for 2020.
It includes €400 million for Africa and €345 million for the Middle East, according to the Commission, which approved the package on Monday.
European humanitarian assistance, channelled through partner organisations such as the United Nations, Red Cross and international NGOs, goes each year to people in dozens of countries affected by conflict, famine or the direct or expected impact of climate change.
In Africa’s case, the initiatives to be financed this year include programmes to assist victims of the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel, people displaced by the violence in Southern Sudan, and vulnerable populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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In the Middle East, the assistance will be used to help people affected by the crisis in Syria, including refugees in neighbouring countries, and by the extremely critical situation in Yemen.
The Commission’s initial 2019 humanitarian budget, which had attained a record €1.6 billion, had largely been earmarked for Syria and Yemen.
In the DRC, European humanitarian aid contributed last year to the fight against the Ebola epidemic, which has killed over 2,200 persons since it was officially declared in August 2018.
The Brussels Times
