Southern African countries launch 5.5-bln-USD appeal for El Nino crisis

LUANDA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) expressed concern on Monday about the humanitarian situation in member countries due to El Nino-induced droughts and floods, which have affected more than 61 million people in the region.

Following an extraordinary virtual summit of heads of state and government, SADC countries launched a humanitarian appeal to raise at least 5.5 billion U.S. dollars to mobilize domestic and external resources to aid affected member states.