International aid agencies on Thursday stepped up appeals for urgent intervention in drought-hit northern Kenya, warning of mass starvation in the region where at least 40 people have already died of hunger and related illness amid fears of a major famine.
At least three foreign relief organisations — the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Action Against Hunger (AAH) and World Vision — said immediate emergency assistance is needed to help about 2,5-million people survive the crisis.
A day after local Red Cross and hospital officials said the death toll from malnutrition had risen to 40 since the beginning of December, the groups described the situation as ”grim,” ”dramatic” and ”disastrous” for the largely pastoralist population amid widespread death of livestock.
The IFRC urged donors to contribute $12,7-million to help deal with ”a critical lack of water for both human and animal consumption across many districts” where it said the mortality rate for livestock, essential to the nomadic peoples there, could surge from 30 to 70%.
”Communities may soon be wiped out since they depend entirely on livestock,” the Red Cross said. ”Given the dramatic situation, it is vital that the international community respond by supporting the government of Kenya appeal for food assistance.”
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has declared the situation a ”national disaster,” ordered the military to assist in food and water distribution and appealed over Christmas for $100-million to fill a shortfall in relief funding.
Yet, the severity of crisis has continued to worsen, according to AAH and World Vision.
”The situation in Mandera has really gone from bad to disastrous,” said Kelly Delaney, a nutritionist with AAH, referring to one of the worst-hit regions in Kenya’s far northeast on the Somali border.
Emergency feeding centres in the area saw a 29% increase in the number of children admitted in the first three weeks of December over the entire month of November and many of those ”are more severely malnourished than those the organization has seen in the past,” AAH said in a statement.
”More international support is essential,” it said, noting that the mass deaths of cattle, goats and camels were a dire indication of worse times to come.
”This population depends on cattle for food, transportation and economic viability,” it said. ”Cattle dying now means that children will die months from now and families will be left with no economic viability or way to feed themselves.” – AFP
