A worsening drought hitting Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya has left more than 11 million people facing severe hunger, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Friday.
“This is the worst situation we have seen in the region since 2011, when more than a quarter of a million people died in Somalia alone,” said Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, IFRC regional director for Africa.
According to IFRC, the situation is the worst in Somalia, where nearly 40 per cent of the population need some form of humanitarian assistance and deaths have already been reported in the north.
The charity Save the Children said tens of thousands of Somalis were leaving their homes in search for food, water and grazing lands for their animals, while camels were dying.
The UN issued a pre-famine alert for Somalia earlier this month, saying more than six million people face acute food insecurity.
According to Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation, some 71,000 children already are severely malnourished and “at risk of death.
It also added that no fewer than 360,000 children under age five are acutely malnourished,
IFRC said Kenya has meanwhile experienced large-scale loss of livestock, while in Ethiopia the impact of the drought is compounded by an influx of people fleeing the drought in Somalia.(dpa/NAN)
The IFRC appealed for a total of about 13 million dollars for the three countries, only about 22 per cent of which has been secured so far.
