Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, in concert with the United Nations and the donor…

Commends:

• the Department of State's and the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID's) timely response to early warning signals of drought in the Horn of Africa and for providing substantial assistance for the humanitarian response in FY2016 and FY2017;
• USAID's quick deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team in response to the previous drought in northeastern and central Ethiopia;
• the Somali diaspora for spearheading the response to humanitarian needs in Somalia;
• the work of United Nations and nongovernmental organizations in providing sustained life-saving assistance to vulnerable populations across the Horn of Africa; and
• USAID for its work to mitigate the impact of environmental shocks to pastoralist communities across the Horn of Africa.

Calls on:

• the State Department and USAID to continue providing long-term development supporting programs that build resilience, protect livelihoods, strengthen global food security, and provide drought relief and emergency food assistance;
• the President to appoint high-level officials to engage the international community in responding to this crisis;
• the government of Kenya to publicly declare that the Dadaab refugee complex will remain open and to respect prima facie status for new arrivals from Somalia; and
• the U.S. government and the international community to continue life-saving assistance and development activities to alleviate drought and food insecurity in the region.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov