NAIROBI, Kenya - A U.S. State Department official says the drought emergency roiling East Africa is one of the biggest humanitarian crises in decades.
Reuben E. Brigety said Friday that the U.S. will provide aid for the crisis in a "significant" way despite the debt ceiling impasse being debated in Washington.
Tens of thousands of Somali refugees are flooding camps in Ethiopia and Kenya in search of food after several seasons with no rain in Somalia.
The United States already has pledged an additional $5 million. That's on top of a previously budgeted $63 million for refugees. Brigety said Washington is now studying how much more it will give.
