Brazil donates water filters and food produced by the MST to refugees in Africa

From the newsroom
Translated by: Ana Paula Rocha

On Saturday (17), the federal government, through its Brazilian Agency of Cooperation, made donations to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Ethiopia, the country President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited on the weekend.

It was 65 portable water filters, each with the capacity to purify 5,600 liters of water per day; 10 tons of dehydrated nutritious food; 4 tons of rice and 4 tons of powdered milk produced and donated by the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese).

The donations were articulated by Brazil’s first lady Janja Lula da Silva. The donations will go to refugee camps in the Gambela region, Ethiopia, which supports 385,000 refugees.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has already identified 18 hunger “hotspots” where food security is expected to deteriorate, including Ethiopia itself, Sudan and South Sudan.

Aiming to combat the problem, during Brazil’s presidency of the G20, a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty will be created, to be organized throughout 2024 and launched at the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Rio de Janeiro in November this year.

Janja Lula da Silva is part of the committee traveling with President Lula on his visit to Ethiopia. Brazil also took part as a guest of honor at the 37th African Union Summit, in Adis Abeba, where President Lula gave the opening speech.

Edited by: Raquel Setz