VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRO #0912 2180926
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 060926Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2504
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 6412
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1020

UNCLAS ROME 000912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO AF/E FOR MATTHEW WALSH ADN PAMELA 
FIERST 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF DJ ER ET KE SO UG PGOV PREL KPKO
PTER 
SUBJECT: ITALY DELIVERS EMERGENCY AID TO HORN OF AFRICA 
 
REF: A. STATE 70789 
     ¶B. STATE 79853 
 
 ¶1. (U) On 15 July Econoff delivered reftel demarche 
concerning emergency aid to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to 
Giovanni Battici, Coordinator for Italy's Emergency Aid 
within the Development Cooperation section of the MFA. 
Italy's main focus for aid to Somalia, Battici said, was in 
building hospitals.  Battici said Italy intends to fund five 
regional hospitals and four smaller district hospitals, to be 
built through UNOPS.  Battici also said that Italy was 
spending 500,000 Euros through the UN Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Somali 
refugees in Somalia.  He said this was a response to the 2009 
coordinated appeal and that 300,000 Euros had already been 
disbursed.  He also noted that Italy had given 800,000 Euros 
to the World Food Program to supply Somalis with cereals, oil 
and sugar.  Finally, on 15 May Italy sent a humanitarian 
flight with twenty two tons of emergency hygiene supplies to 
Somalia to prevent the outbreak of disease.  In 2008 Italy 
had spent 4.4 million Euros on emergency aid to Somalia, 
allocated among a bi-lateral channel (3 million Euros), the 
ICRC ( 500,000 Euros), the World Food Program (700,000 Euros) 
and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (200,000 Euros). 
 
¶2. (U) Battici said that Italy had three initiatives in Kenya 
underway.  The first was a 1.8 million Euro project to 
rehabilitate the water and sewage system in the Dabab refugee 
camp.  The second was a 2 million Euro project to support 
agriculture in the Rift Valley.  Italy also gave 1 million 
Euros for Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya, which is 
being distributed through the World Food Program.  In 
Ethiopia Italy does not currently have any bilateral 
emergency initiatives underway, according to Battici; instead 
it works through UN agencies.  In response to the 2008-2009 
appeal for Ethiopia, Italy gave 2 million Euros for the World 
Food program, 400,000 Euros to FAO for strengthening pastoral 
livelihoods, and an additional 545,000 for OCHA.  Italy also 
gave 123,000 Euros to the ICRC for Kenyans displaced to 
Uganda.  Concerning future emergency assistance for Somalia, 
Kenya and Ethiopia, Battici said that the level of funding in 
the budget would not be known until December 2009. 
 
¶3. (U) Information in this cable is a partial response to 
State 079853 which requests support from the international 
community for the Somalia Transitional Federal Government 
following its agreement with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Key 
contacts in the GOI MFA on this issue have not returned from 
August leave; post will contact them immediately upon their 
return. 
DIBBLE