Addis Ababa, 14 June 2018: The Government of Ireland today announced the disbursement of €1 million to the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in support of its work with refugees in Ethiopia. The money, made available through Irish Aid, Ireland’s official programme for overseas development assistance, will go to supporting the delivery of international protection and critical services to the over 920,000 refugees hosted by Ethiopia.

The Directorate of Food and Nutrition of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation and Action Against Hunger Sierra Leone, with funding from Irish Aid, conducted the National Nutrition Survey 2017 in close collaboration and partnership with Sierra Leone Nutrition Technical Working Group.

A devastating mudslide – triggered by three days of heavy monsoon rains – caused widespread damage and loss of life in Freetown, Sierra Leone on the 14th of August. Homes were engulfed after heavy rains caused part of the Sugar Loaf Mountain to collapse. Some 500 people lost their lives in the disaster and thousands have lost their homes, many of whom are being sheltered in temporary sites.

In response to overwhelming levels of humanitarian suffering across the globe, Ireland has given an extra €9 million in funding to one of our key humanitarian partners - the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). This new contribution brings our total support to the CERF to €22 million this year alone and shows Ireland’s strong commitment to saving lives through humanitarian assistance.

Severe humanitarian crises are affecting a number of countries across East Africa – in large parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya millions of people are living in dire circumstances. These crises are driven by drought and conflict, often resulting in large-scale displacement of people from their homes. Ireland is responding to the crises through our humanitarian assistance programme, managed by Irish Aid.