BERLIN (Reuters) - German Development Minister Gerd Mueller, citing hunger crises in eastern Africa, said the United Nations should create a permanent 10 billion euro ($11.19 billion) crisis fund, with contributions to be based on a country's financial strength.
"The catastrophe is already upon us," Mueller said in an interview with the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, published on Saturday. He pointed to dire conditions in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Mueller said the United Nations estimated the financial needs in eastern Africa alone amounted to $4 billion to $5 billion.
Creating a fund that would be continually restocked would make it easier to respond to recurring humanitarian crises, he said.
"We need to accomplish this as a world community," he said.