The worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa has sparked a severe food crisis and high malnutrition rates, with parts of Kenya and Somalia experiencing pre-famine conditions, according to a United Nations report.
More than 10 million people are now affected in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda and the situation is deteriorating day by day, said Elisabeth Byrs, the spokeswoman of the UN office.
This acute drought is a result of two consecutive poor rainy seasons. It's been one of the driest years since 1950/51 in many pastoral zones of Africa.
Food prices have risen substantially in the region, pushing many moderately poor households over the edge of misery. Child malnutrition is witnessed in many parts, resulting in high mortality rate among children though the report could not gather exact figures, reports Reuters.
Drought and food crisis are driving many Somalis away from their homeland, almost 20,000 reaching Kenya in just two weeks, stated the U.N. refuge agency UNHCR.
The United Nations has humanatrian appeal sent out for more funds. A U.N. map of food security in the eastern Horn of Africa shows large swathes of central Kenya and Somalia in the emergency category, one phase before what the U.N. classifies as catastrophe/famine -- the fifth and worst category.
There is no likelihood of improvement in the situation until 2012, says the UN report.
Emaciated livestock are put on sale at Wajir town's weekly livestock market January 9, 2006. Pastoralists said there were very few sales even at the record low price of 500 Kenyan shillings ($7) for a head of cattle because most of the animals were so emaciated from the drought that they would die within days on the road. The United Nations World Food Programme warned that a humanitarian catastrophe would engulf the drought-stricken Horn of Africa unless the WFP receives urgent donations to provide emergency food aid for an estimated 5.4 million people, including 2.5 million in Kenya. Picture taken January 9, 2006.REUTERSA dead cow is seen at livestock watering wells at Dambas village, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Wajir town in northeastern Kenya January 8, 2006. Pastoralists said there were very few sales even at the record low price of 500 Kenyan shillings ($7) for a head of cattle because most of the animals were so emaciated from the drought that they would die within days on the road. The United Nations World Food Programme warned that a humanitarian catastrophe would engulf the drought-stricken Horn of Africa unless the WFP receives urgent donations to provide emergency food aid for an estimated 5.4 million people, including 2.5 million in Kenya. Picture taken January 8, 2006.REUTERSA Somali child looks on as U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland talks with his returned refugee mother as he visits the Ahaya camp December 3, 2004 in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, an autonomous enclave which is unrecognised internationally. Egeland started a three-day trip to raise awareness on Somalia's problems saying the country's persistent violence drought and stream of refugees have created one of the world's forgotten humanitarian crises.REUTERSA Somalian woman hoes the arid soil as her daughters follow behind throwing seeds into the ground, near Burdhuhunle village in southern Somalia, 370km (230 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu in this March 29, 2006 file photo. Hundreds of people and tens of thousands of livestock have died from hunger and thirst across east Africa in the region's worst drought in years, which the United Nations says threatens up to 11 million people. Aid workers say Somalia is particularly vulnerable. The Horn of Africa country of 10 million people is carved into fiefdoms run by rival warlords, and insecurity and an unstable government make food deliveries extremely difficult.REUTERSOne of thousands of livestock carcasses litter the ground around Goraye in the drought-stricken Borena zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia March 25, 2006. More than 1.7 million Ethiopians are struggling to survive in a drought that has gripped the whole Horn of Africa.REUTERA boy drinks water from a pond in Bule Duba village in the outskirts of Moyale, near the edge of Oroma and Somali regions of Ethiopia, June 12, 2009. Prolonged drought, lack of water and limited pasture have led to conflict between the Somali and Borena ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia which left hundreds of people dead in February this year. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says it needs some 100 million Swiss francs to prevent conflict, famine and epidemics as well as restore the livelihoods of 2.5 million people in the Horn of Africa. Picture taken June 12, 2009. REUTERSREUTERSInternally displaced Somalis carry their belongings as they arrive in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, July 4, 2011, in search of greener pastures following a prolonged drought. Donor fatigue following recurrent humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa has left aid agencies short of funds to carry out their work. The number of refugees in need of assistance has risen in countries affected by a severe drought, including Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, a UNICEF spokesman said. REUTERSREUTERS
