Singer N'Dour Calls On Africa To Aid Drought Victims
Boris Barchorz, AFP, 06 September, 2011
DADAAB, Kenya — Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour on Tuesday urged Africa to lead initiatives for victims of drought in the Horn of Africa, saying he hoped to mobilise African artists to support them."Whenever there is a problem it is the Westerners who are in the foreground, where are the Africans?" N'Dour said, speaking after a visit to Kenya's giant Dadaab refugee camps as an ambassador for the UN children's agency.
"Africans always used to reach out, and I wanted to hit the table and say, we can solve our problems."
Dadaab -- a tightly packed settlement of huts made of rags and plastic sheeting -- is the world's largest refugee complex.
The dust-blown series of camps in eastern Kenya has seen tens of thousands of desperate Somalis arriving in recent months, swelling the camp to over 400,000 people.
Over 12 million people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda, are affected by harsh drought and are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
Somalia is the hardest hit, with three-quarters of a million people facing death by starvation as famine spread to a sixth region on Monday, the UN said.
N'Dour was one of the most high profile leading African personalities to visit Dadaab, where over 155,000 people have arrived since January.
They bring with them stories of horror: Ibrahim Adan, 50, fled "drought, famine and insecurity", trekking for a fortnight from his village in Lower Juba to Dadaab, a journey where two of his seven children died.
In an emergency care centre for malnourished children, Adan watches over his youngest son, Ibrahim. The three-year-old boy weighs just 6.7 kilogrammes.
Schools in the camp are hugely overstretched, with sometimes up to 40 new children arriving in a day.
"We are in an emergency, with up to 140 students in one class," said Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, 25, a teacher for five years, who arrived in Dadaab aged six. "Teacher morale is now very, very low," he added.
N'Dour said he wanted to "appeal to the artistic community of Africa and the world to find events that can raise awareness or bring comfort," as well as to fundraise, as musicians once did for Ethiopia.
"I think Africa should be at the forefront," he said, adding he had received the support of U2 frontman Bono.
The Irish singer "called me and told me 'I am behind you,'" N'Dour said.
"Initiatives should not only come from there (the West) but also from here," N'Dour said.
"It is also what we need to do to have a little dignity," he added.