An estimated US$20 billion is needed in 2016 to meet the needs of some 87 million people in need, compared to $18 billion that was required to reach 52 million people in need in 2014.

According to a release by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), this is expected to increase, presenting a critical test to the capacity and ability of the humanitarian community to respond effectively on its own.

‘The world is currently facing an unprecedented number of humanitarian crises, putting more strain on responders. The number of people targeted for assistance has more than doubled over the past decade, with the global funding requirements increasing at a much faster rate. As part of the ongoing efforts to bolster the effectiveness of the humanitarian response system in the region, the humanitarian community in collaboration with business partners and the Government of Kenya, today launched the Humanitarian Private Sector Partnership Platform – East Africa, in Nairobi’ the UNOCHA release states in part.

Mr Pete Manfield, Head of UNOCHA, Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa said the launch of this partnership is a milestone. “Private sector partners play a key role in improving the reach, quality and timeliness of the humanitarian system and in helping to strengthen disaster management across the region,” Mr Manfield said.

Cross-sector partnerships in the region have however been ad-hoc, with engagement focused on single responses or one-off donations. “The challenge however is how the Government and stakeholders can transform this kind of engagements into continuous and sustainable partnerships, in light of surging crises,” stated Mr. Wycliffe Ogallo, Secretary, Liaison Affairs, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, who officially launched the Platform.

A key pillar under the World Humanitarian Summit consultations is the review of how the international humanitarian system ‘inter-operates’ with the broader network of actors that are responding to crises, in addition to building upon local and national capacity.

“Humanitarian and business dynamics are changing rapidly especially around mass population movements resulting from natural and man-made disasters,” notes Mr Dickens Thunde, World Vision Kenya Director, adding: “This necessitates that the two entities cooperate.”

The HPPP aims to provide structured and cost-efficient ways to connect humanitarian, business and government actors in helping communities minimize the impact of disasters and forge faster recovery.

Stories Continues after ad

The United Nations (UN) has accused South Sudan’s government as well as forces loyal to Riek Machar to have blocked trucks from delivering relief supplies in various parts of the country.

According to the UN more than one million people in South Sudan are now in dire need of food. “There is a problem of access throughout the country and by all parties”, said Ariane Quentier, UN’s spokesperson in South Sudan.

The UN said they are having difficulties transporting basic amenities such as food and clean water to those trapped in areas still under fighting. According to Quentier, those people are in desperate need of medical supplies as well. “Whatever vulnerable people need when they have been displaced – they are in need of humanitarian assistance and support,” she added.

Deputy rebel spokesman Major Dickson Gatluak denied any involvement of their troops in blocking the aid trucks. He said the government must shoulder the blame alone.

Juba: Aid blocked for ‘security’ reasons

In a rare admission the government in the capital Juba confirmed that the aid cargos have been blocked, but for security reasons. “We put our security first”, said South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makwei, adding: “We will not just allow any convoy to move. Last time when we apprehended a convoy which was taking relief, we apprehended arms.”

In March 2014 government troops intercepted eleven UN trucks allegedly carrying undocumented weapons. The UN’s Ghanaian contingent claimed the trucks were heading to their base in the north of the country and that the cargo was mislabeled. Juba, however, maintained that the Ghanaian troops were trying to smuggle arms to the rebels. The incident cast a shadow of doubt on the work of the UN in South Sudan and is now affecting humanitarian efforts.

Meanwhile, the blockade of aid supplies comes at a time when human rights abuses remain a major problem in South Sudan. According to a recent report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the South Sudanese army has carried out numerous killings, enforced disappearances, rapes and abuses in the region of Western Equatoria. The report claims that government troops have attacked civilian areas, burned houses, detained critics arbitrarily and carried out summary executions.

Western Equatoria had also been cut off from aid supplies. HRW’s researchers spent a week in Western Equatoria in February. According to the rights’ group, the conflict is spreading further west to previously uncontested areas of the country.

HRW said government soldiers were also responsible for an attack against a UN camp in February 2016. Gunmen stormed and torched a camp sheltering refugees in the northeastern town of Malakal. At least 25 people were killed and 120 wounded. The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that reports of troops in government army uniforms ‘firing on civilians’ were ‘credible’. They further said that the attack could amount to a possible war crime.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan slithered back into a civil war in 2013. The conflict began as a power struggle between the South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar. According to the UN, 50.000 people have died and 2.2 million people have been displaced by the armed conflict.

Stories Continues after ad

A US air strike has killed more than 150 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, the Pentagon says.

Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the strike hit a training camp where a ‘large-scale’ attack was being planned.

“We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces,” Captain Davis said.

“Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated,” he added.

Mr Davis said the strike, by both drones and manned aircraft, took place on Saturday and targeted Raso Camp, a training facility about 120 miles (195km) north of the capital, Mogadishu.

The camp had been under surveillance for some time, according to Mr Davis. “There was a sense that the operational phase was about to happen,” he said.

He said the group had neared the completion of specialist training to conduct ‘offensive operations’, but did not give any details about the alleged plans.

Al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has continued to launch frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

The group has said it carried out a string of recent attacks including a twin bombing at a busy restaurant in the Somali city of Baidoa last month.

Also on Monday, the Australian navy said it had seized a huge cache of weapons on a fishing boat off the coast of Oman that was apparently heading for Somalia.

Grenade launchers, machine guns, and 2,000 assault rifles were concealed under fishing nets, a Navy spokesman said.

Crippling al-Shabab is top of a recently-announced US military strategy for Africa, which also includes addressing the situation in Libya and containing Boko Haram in West Africa. With drones from its nearby bases in neighbouring Djibouti, the US has succeeded in striking hard at the heart of al-Shabab operations, including killing Ahmed Godane, the leader of the jihadi group, in 2014.

The jihadis have since learned that they are often watched by surveillance aircraft and so they tend to meet under trees to avoid detection. This method has its limits, as this latest incident shows. They cannot train at will without being seen.

Al-Shabab maintains its determination to establish its rule over Somalia, hence its resilience and increasingly sophisticated attacks. The group is suspected to be behind an explosion at a security checkpoint at the Beledweyne airport which could have been more lethal had the explosives got aboard an airliner.

Stories Continues after ad