As we launch our Hungry No More campaign we are privileged to publish the following guest post from Festus Gontebanye Mogae, the former President of Botswana and Ibrahim Prize Laureate.
When I served as Botswana’s President I made it a priority to address poverty in my country and during my time in office, and in the years since, I’ve witnessed real progress. In Botswana and across the continent, African leadership has helped get millions more children into school, reduce deaths from diseases like malaria, and make concrete advances against HIV/AIDS.
But like other Africans I’ve been shocked by the recent images of suffering that we have seen from Somalia. In just 3 months 30,000 children have died. This figure is so large it’s hard to comprehend, let alone think about how behind this number are countless stories of human tragedy.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. With your help we can make sure this the last famine in Africa.
Please join me in signing ONE’s petition right now.
The petition reads:
Dear African Leaders,
We are haunted by the famine in Somalia that has killed 30,000 children in 3 months. We respectfully request that you help make this the last famine by: 1) supporting delivery of promised emergency aid; 2) increasing effort on peace and security; 3) keeping the long-term promise toward spending 10% of national budgets on agriculture and food security; and 4) doing so transparently, so citizens can ensure this money is well spent.
We have a moral duty to help save lives and encourage governments and donors to fulfil their promises, both the emergency aid now for the famine, and the longer term commitments made to invest in agriculture and food security – so we can together unleash the true potential of African agriculture and make this the last famine on our continent.
Please sign ONE’s petition now.
Thank you for your support.
Festus Gontebanye Mogae is the former President of Botswana and Ibrahim Prize Laureate.
