IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 239 

Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, in concert 

with the United Nations and the donor community, to respond to drought 

and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2017 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. BASS, and Mr. ELLISON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, 

in concert with the United Nations and the donor community, to respond to drought and food insecurity in 

the Horn of Africa. 

Whereas the worst famine in 20 years occurred in Somalia 

between October 2010 and April 2012, caused by severe 

drought, failed harvests, a spike in food prices, and pervasive insecurity, which impeded the delivery of food aid; 

Whereas the famine resulted in the deaths of at least 

260,000 Somalis and Somali refugees in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya, including at least 133,000 

children under the age of five; 


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Whereas early warning of drought and famine conditions was 

accurate and timely across the region, but funding for 

the humanitarian response came too late to mitigate the 

worst effects of the drought, including mass displacement 

into neighboring countries, starvation, and death; 

Whereas in 2011 alone, the threat of starvation contributed 

to the influx of over 110,000 Somali refugees into Ethiopia, 100,000 Somali refugees into Kenya, and thousands 

more into Djibouti; 

Whereas a shortage of rainfall over the course of the past two 

years has again exacerbated drought conditions, significantly increasing vulnerability and food insecurity across 

the Horn of Africa region, leaving more than 14,000,000 

people facing severe food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance as of early 2017; 

Whereas in February 2017, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and the Food Security and 

Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU) warned of 

a significant deterioration in food security and an increased risk of famine in the Horn of Africa in the coming months if the April–June rains are as poor as expected; 

Whereas the effects of drought place the heaviest burden on 

women and girls, whose coping strategies put them at increased risk of violence and cause them to forego educational opportunities; 

Whereas in Ethiopia, drought conditions have developed in 

recent months in at least 15 zones of Oromia, Somali, 

and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples regions, and 5,600,000 people are projected to require humanitarian assistance in the coming months; 


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Whereas Kenya has experienced two consecutive seasons of 

poor rains, causing 12 counties to experience drought 

conditions and contributing to acute food insecurity for 

2,600,000 people; 

Whereas in Somalia, nearly 6,200,000 people are currently in 

need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 

2,900,000 people are facing crisis or emergency levels of 

acute food insecurity, including nearly a million children 

under the age of five; 

Whereas according to the United Nations High Commissioner 

for Refugees (UNHCR), Somalia is the fourth largest 

source of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan, Syria, 

and South Sudan; 

Whereas more than 1,000,000 people are already internally 

displaced within Somalia, many living in dire and unsafe 

informal displacement camps where they face a range of 

serious risks, including sexual violence and violent forced 

evictions; 

Whereas the anticipated scale of population displacement 

from Somalia due to pervasive conflict and the threat of 

starvation will increase refugee flows throughout the region and into Europe; 

Whereas in 2016, the Government of Kenya revoked prima 

facie refugee status for Somalis and disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, leaving thousands of newly 

arrived Somalis unregistered and without assistance; 

Whereas the Government of Kenya has announced plans to 

repatriate 261,000 Somali refugees to areas of Somalia 

affected by drought and famine conditions, as well as the 

persistent threat of violence from Al-Shabaab; and 


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Whereas if timely, sufficient funding for a robust humanitarian response is not received by the end of April 2017, 

the humanitarian consequences of this drought, including 

the loss of life and reverberating effects in the region, 

will exceed those of the 2011 famine: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) commends the timely response of the De3 partment of State and the United States Agency for 

4 International Development (USAID) to early warn5 ing signals of drought in the Horn of Africa, and for 

6 providing substantial assistance for the humani7 tarian response in fiscal year 2016 and to date in 

8 fiscal year 2017; 

9 (2) commends USAID’s quick deployment of a 

10 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) be11 tween March and November 2016, in response to the 

12 previous drought in northeastern and central Ethi13 opia, which, by working with international partners, 

14 resulted in the number of people requiring humani15 tarian assistance declining from approximately 

16 10,200,000 in late 2015 to a projected 5,600,000 by 

17 the end of 2017; 

18 (3) commends the Somali diaspora in the Horn 

19 of Africa, the United States, Canada, Australia, and 

20 Europe, for spearheading the response to humani21 tarian needs in Somalia, and encourages financial 


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1 institutions to explore means to facilitate the flow of 

2 charitable donations and remittances to populations 

3 in need; 

4 (4) commends the work of United Nations 

5 agencies and international, national, and local non6 governmental organizations (NGOs) in providing 

7 sustained life-saving assistance to vulnerable popu8 lations across the Horn of Africa, leading to im9 provements in malnutrition rates since 2011; 

10 (5) commends USAID for its work to date to 

11 mitigate the impact of environmental shocks to pas12 toralist communities across the Horn of Africa, and 

13 calls on the Department of State and USAID to 

14 continue providing robust, long-term development 

15 supporting programs that build resilience, protect 

16 livelihoods, and strengthen global food security 

17 through programs such as USAID’s Office of Food 

18 for Peace and Bureau for Food Security, as well as 

19 programs to provide drought relief and emergency 

20 food assistance implemented by the World Food Pro21 gram (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization of 

22 the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Inter23 national Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 

24 and nongovernmental organizations, including faith25 based and non-faith-based organizations; 


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1 (6) calls on the President to appoint high-level 

2 officials able to engage the international community 

3 in joining the United States to respond to this crisis, 

4 including an Administrator for USAID, a Director 

5 for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, an As6 sistant USAID Administrator for Africa, and an As7 sistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; 

8 (7) urges the Government of Kenya to publicly 

9 declare that the Dadaab refugee complex will remain 

10 open, respect prima facie status for new arrivals 

11 from Somalia, and work with the Office of the 

12 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 

13 Kenya to restart the registration of refugees, includ14 ing from Somalia, at their points of entry, re-estab15 lish fair, transparent, and effective asylum proce16 dures across the country, and put in place robust 

17 border protection monitoring to track humanitarian 

18 indicators inside Somalia and assess the needs of 

19 new arrivals; and 

20 (8) calls on the United States Government and 

21 the international community, including international, 

22 national, and local NGOs, to continue life-saving as23 sistance and development activities in order to allevi24 ate drought and food insecurity in the region to 


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1 avert the catastrophic consequences of drought in 

2 the Horn of Africa. 

Æ 


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