“[T]he problem is not just assessing the size of the current crisis” of drought and hunger in East Africa, “[i]t is also the fact that the droughts in this region have become an almost annual occurrence,” a Guardian editorial states. 

“As it is, aid agencies race from one drought to another. And the fact that the shortfall in [World Food Programme] funding is 42% in Somalia, and 67% in Ethiopia and Kenya, speaks volumes about the mentality of donors who are only moved to act when it is too late,” the editorial writes. Britain announced a “generous” 38 million pound donation to Ethiopia, the editorial notes, adding, “Would that other donors gave as much, even if that sum may only fund the World Food Programme operation in the country until September” (7/7).