Horn of Africa drought drives 13m to hunger

Horn of Africa drought drives 13m to hunger

NAIROBI: Vast swathes of land stretching from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia are in the grip of a severe drought that has left 13 million people facing hunger. Across these regions, where people eke out a living from mainly agro-pastoral activities, the three rainy seasons since the end of 2020 have been marked by low rainfall, exacerbated by a locust invasion that devastated crops between 2019 and 2021.

“The population of the Horn makes up only four percent of the global population, but it represents 20 percent of the population that is food insecure,” Michael Dunford, World Food Programme (WFP) regional director for eastern Africa, said earlier this month. According to the UN agency, 5.7 million people need food aid in southern and southeastern Ethiopia, including half a million malnourished children and mothers.

In eastern and northern Kenya, where the president declared a state of national disaster in September because of the drought, another 2.8 million people need assistance.

In Somalia, the number of people classified as severely hungry could rise from 4.3 million to 4.6 million by May if urgent action is not taken. The authorities there declared a “state of humanitarian emergency” in November.

‘Brink of catastrophe’

“Malnutrition has reached crisis