|
Nearly
16 million people in the Horn of Africa are threatened with
starvation, according to the United Nations.
Over the
past two years drought has scorched crops and killed livestock
across the region.
And while
drought is the primary cause of the food crisis, the UN says
conflict and insecurity have exacerbated the situation.
Ethiopia
The food
shortages are most severe in Ethiopia, where more than eight
million are at risk of famine.
The country
is in the middle of a protracted war with neighbouring Eritrea,
which is severely complicating relief efforts.
There
is also instability in the south-east of the country, with
frequent reports of banditry and rebel incursions from Somalia
and Sudan.
Some international
aid agencies have pulled their workers out because of the
danger.
Eritrea
Some 367,000
people are threatened by drought and food shortages in Eritrea.
Thousands of farmers in the grain-producing regions in the
south have fled from the conflict zones, leaving crops unharvested.
As a
result there have been sharp rises in local food prices and
livestock herds are being sold at falling prices.
The border
war with Ethiopia has also burdened the country with an increasingly
large population of refugees.
United
Nations special envoy Catherine Bertini said in mid-April
there was still time to avert widespread famine in Eritrea,
if food could be moved in quickly.
Djibouti
Drought
is affecting an estimated 100,000 people in this tiny country,
which is highly dependent on imported food and foreign aid.
Water holes have reached dangerously low levels, and livestock
are dying.
Many
people are already leaving rural areas for the cities, in
search of more food and water.
Kenya
In northern
Kenya nearly 2.7 million people are facing severe food shortages,
making it the second most severely hit country after Ethiopia.
Turkana district, in the north-west, is the worst-affected
area.
Somalia
Crop
failure and fighting between rival militias have left between
1.2 and 1.5 million people at risk in Somalia. Food stocks
are being sent to the country in anticipation of a major emergency.
The worst
affected areas are the Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions, where
an estimated 730,000 people need assistance. Harvests are
expected to fail for the sixth year in succession and there
have been outbreaks of cholera.
In Waajid,
in the south-west of the country, child malnutrition is estimated
to be 25%, with hundreds of children needing food supplements.
But there
is such a shortage of food that it is usual for the special-high
protein ration to be used by all the family.
Relief
efforts have been hindered by looting and fighting, which
led to the temporary suspension of food distribution in the
Bakool region.
The country
has a reputation as a difficult and dangerous place for aid
workers.
Sudan
The UN
estimates that 1.7m people in Sudan will need food aid this
year, with 75,000 of them at immediate risk.
Sudan
is plagued by civil war and has the world's largest population
of internally displaced persons.
Aid workers
have often been prevented from reaching at-risk groups due
to fighting.
Uganda
Drought
and crop failure in north-east Uganda has caused severe food
shortages for an estimated 220,000 people.
By December
last year, the UN estimates that 30% of households in Moroto
and Kotido had exhausted their food supplies.
Many
families are surviving on one meal a day, and depending on
cactus fruits, wild berries and leaves for food.
Further
south
The UN
Food and Agriculture organisation has warned that the food
crisis could spread south to central Africa's great lakes
region, where conflict, large population movements and erratic
weather have created another food shortage.
The situation
is particularly grave for nearly 800,000 people living in
camps for displaced people in Burundi.
They are
mainly Hutu peasant farmers, who are now unable to gather
in their crops. And in Tanzania, drought has affected an estimated
1m people.
|
