AP

Somali women selling stolen food aid hide their faces from a photographer at a market in Mogadishu.

African governments have failed in their response to the devastating drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, a new coalition of activists said in a report released Monday.

The campaign, called “Africans Act 4 Africa,” says governments on the continent can give a “bare minimum” of $50 million (about R360 million) to the aid efforts in Somalia and elsewhere in eastern Africa. To date, the African Union has pledged just $500,000.

Giving cash for humanitarian relief “would be consistent with the political principle of 'African solutions for African problems,'“ the report said, citing the phrase used by governments across the continent when Western countries intervene in local affairs.

“The response from African leaders has so far been much too little and much too late,” said aid group Oxfam, one of the coordinators of the new campaign.

The United Nations says its relief work is only about half funded, as it still lacks over 1.3 billion dollars. Western industrialized nations have contributed the lion's share of the funding.

Only a handful of African governments have donated to the UN fund. South Africa is the leader, having pledged 1 million dollars.

However, private campaigns across the continent, whether by motivated citizens or corporations, have dwarfed the entire official contribution from governments, including those of oil- and mineral-producing states.

The activists group, which includes 12 pan-African organizations and several well-known artists, also called on governments to prevent the next crisis.

“We need to ensure a food independent Africa. We cannot be truly independent until we are certain that no African citizen can starve to death again. This crisis was wholly preventable,” the report said. - Sapa-dpa