China News Service, Brussels, February 27 (Reporter Toku Yongjian) When the strategically important "Greater Horn of Africa" ​​region suffered multiple blows such as war conflicts, extreme weather, and food crises, the European Union announced on the 27th that it would add an additional 1.71 million yuan to the region. 100 million euros in humanitarian assistance to help South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and other countries overcome difficulties.

  According to the announcement issued by the European Commission that day, EU aid will be used to meet the growing humanitarian needs of the region. Specifically, South Sudan will receive 49.5 million euros in aid, Ethiopia will receive 38 million euros in aid, Somalia will receive 37 million euros in aid, and Uganda will receive 27.5 million euros. In terms of euro aid, Kenya received 11.5 million euros in aid, Djibouti received 500,000 euros in aid, and another 7 million euros in aid were used for disaster prevention and reduction.

  The announcement shows that EU assistance focuses on responding to severe local food and nutrition crises, improving access to basic services, providing education and shelter to children, and helping to establish early warning systems for disasters through emergency response and early action.

  Lenarcic, the European Commission Commissioner responsible for crisis management, said in the announcement that vulnerable groups in the "Greater Horn of Africa" ​​region are on the verge of collapse due to multiple factors.

EU aid is intended to save lives and help communities hit hard by crises become more resilient to risks.

  As a strategic location, the Horn of Africa region can be divided into the "Little Horn of Africa" ​​and the "Greater Horn of Africa". The "Little Horn of Africa" ​​mainly refers to Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and other countries, and the "Greater Horn of Africa" "Corner" includes Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and other countries.

  Since 2020, the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa has continued to deteriorate, and it has been hit by armed conflicts, the COVID-19 epidemic, severe locust plagues, droughts, floods, etc.

According to EU estimates, there are currently about 65 million people in the area in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

  The situation in Sudan is particularly severe.

Since the armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces broke out in April last year, it not only triggered Sudan's worst humanitarian crisis in the past 10 years, but also caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee Sudan and put Sudan's neighboring countries such as South Sudan and Ethiopia under unprecedented pressure.

  At the end of January this year, the EU announced that it would provide 72 million euros in aid to Sudan. In addition to the 171 million euros in aid announced on the 27th, the EU will provide 243 million euros in aid to the Horn of Africa in this round.

The European Commission’s announcement on the 27th also stated that this round of aid is a “preliminary allocation”, suggesting that additional aid may continue to be provided to the Horn of Africa in the future.

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