A time for giving as hunger stalks a distant land

Twelve trucks from several Chinese companies arrive at the Lorenge Lup village in northern Kenya, and the unloading begins. This delivery of food relief, which would benefit 9,000 people, was organized by the Kenya-China Economic and Trade Association. [Photos by Li Lianxing / China Daily]

China's emergency food

The first two batches of the emergency food aid from China to Kenya - 2,500 tons of rice loaded in 100 containers - arrived on Sept 28. The third and fourth batches have already left China and are due to arrive at the Kenyan port of Mombasa by the end of this month.

A further 150 million yuan in emergency food aid will be distributed in Ethiopia. This is expected to start arriving in Addis Ababa any day.

The Chinese government is working closely with international organizations to mitigate the influence of the famine. The government announced a total of $16 million in aid to the WFP in August. This arrived earlier this month in Somalia, the area worst hit by this catastrophe. The Chinese aid will help to feed 1.7 million people for a month, including 100,000 malnourished children under the age of 5.

"The Chinese government and people are deeply concerned about the drought and famine situation in the Horn of Africa, which is the worst in 60 years," said Han Chunlin, commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy to Kenya, during a handover ceremony that took place at the main WFP warehouse in Mogadishu on Wednesday. "The donation we have made shows the sincere friendship between the two countries and people, and our firm support for helping the Somali people to fight the famine."

Kenyan Vice-President Stephene Kalonzo Musyoka said the emergency food aid from China was the largest amount of food relief ever received by the Kenyan government and that the Kenyan government promised to distribute this food to drought-hit Kenyans as soon as possible.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses M. Wetang'ula told China Daily that the food crisis in his country is already under control.

"Kenya received enormous support and help from the international community. Besides China, we also received aid from the United States. And the European Union offered the greatest portion of aid in this crisis," he said.

"China has an unprecedented opportunity that no other country has ever achieved, or been able to aspire to: to make its own ability to fight hunger as China's greatest export," said Brett Rierson, director of the WFP China office.

He said 20 years ago, the WFP's China Program was its largest anywhere in the world but it is now a major and increasingly important partner in development for the World Food Program.

"No country has lifted more people out of hunger in less time. Thirty years ago, one in three Chinese citizens knew hunger. Today, fewer than one in 10 is undernourished," he said.

"China, as the biggest developing country, has hunger problems at home, but given the long friendship between China and Africa, we are obliged to help our friends at such a difficult time," said Gu Xiaojie, Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia.

"Along with globalization, China should shoulder its relative international responsibility to enhance the common development of humanity," he said. "It's very meaningful to help African friends and share our experiences in tackling poverty and hunger with them."