How Horn of Africa can end perennial food crisis

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (L) addresses a joint press conference with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta following a meeting in Nairobi on October 29, 2014. UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Wednesday that Somalia risks returning to famine without urgent aid, as he visited the war-torn country three years since more than 250,000 people died of hunger. UN chief Ban also toured Kenya as part of efforts to boost development in the Horn of Africa region, meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the State House. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA

Nairobi; Kenya: World leaders deserve congratulations for pledging to spend more than Sh712 billion in financial support for countries in the Horn of Africa which have been battling cycles of drought, food insecurity and civil wars.

To their credit, these countries, which include Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, have been making unheralded progress in economic growth and political stability.