UN, Norway and Germany raising money to fight famine in Africa

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende says his country is giving 1.6 billion kroner ($192 million) over a three-year period to prevent a famine in the African countries around the Lake Chad Basin, Associated Press reported on Friday.

At the same time, Germany added 120 million euros ($127 million) to the aid.

Brende says there is "a serious humanitarian situation" in the region encompassing Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, adding there "is urgent need to stop the crisis unfolding in an area with 26 million people."

Brende and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel made the commitments in Oslo as they opened a one-day international donor conference to help secure funds to prevent a famine in the African region where about 11 million people have an acute need for relief.

UN aid agencies and donor countries gathered in Oslo Thursday for a two-day meeting to raise emergency aid for millions of people threatened by famine in the countries around the Lake Chad Basin.

Norway, Nigeria, Germany and the United Nations who are in the forefront of the Oslo Humanitarian Conference, are hoping to raise at least $1.5 billion to support the most vulnerable people in the region.

Earlier on Tuesday UNICEF reported that almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.