US President Joe Biden announced this Tuesday, 3 December, in a speech in Luanda, ‘more than a billion dollars in new humanitarian assistance for Africans displaced by historic droughts’ and affected by famine.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a statement that this is ‘additional assistance to address food insecurity and other urgent needs of refugees and displaced persons’ in 31 countries on the continent.
The funding includes around 823 million dollars through USAID and 186 million dollars through the State Department, the statement added, emphasising that Africa is the region ‘where the percentage of the population suffering from hunger is the highest.’
Armed conflicts, extreme weather events and natural disasters are contributing to this situation, and the pledge of aid ‘demonstrates once again’ the ‘firm commitment’ to stand alongside the United States’ African partners to “address the challenge of food insecurity”, reads the statement, which appeals to the generosity of other donors.
In 2024, the United States provided almost 6.6 billion dollars in humanitarian aid to sub-Saharan Africa, but more funds are needed ‘to meet critical and growing needs’, USAID insists.
The outgoing Mozambican President is due to travel to Lobito on Wednesday, where he will host an international summit on the Lobito Corridor, an infrastructure project with significant investment from the United States and the European Union, which will connect the port of the Angolan city to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
This major infrastructure project is intended to affirm Washington’s ambitions vis-à-vis China on the continent, just a few weeks before his successor Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
Source: Jornal de Negócios
