21 Jul 2016

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama will next week declare a regional disaster and launch a US$2.7 billion (over P29 billion) regional humanitarian appeal for millions hit by El-Nino induced drought. 

The occasion to declare regional disaster will be held at Gaborone International Convention Centre on Tuesday.

The SADC secretariat says the move comes in response to the devastating El-Nino induced drought which has affected an estimated 40 million people across the SADC region. 

SADC said in a statement issued last week that 23 million people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The appeal is a formal request to the international community to provide assistance to affected member states, and it is meant to complement the response efforts at individual member states level, as a lot has been done by the countries, SADC said.

Five member states of Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have declared national drought emergencies, while South Africa has declared a drought emergency in eight of the country›s nine provinces. ENDS