The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Friday called for urgent humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa region where recent droughts and ongoing conflicts have left millions facing possible famine.
More than 11-million people in Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia are in need of aid, the FAO said in a special alert issued in Rome.
Worst-affected are desert and half-desert regions where food and crop shortages leading to famine conditions are chronic. Eastern Africa has seen a number of food emergencies in the past decades, with one million people estimated to have starved to death in the years 1984-1985 alone.
The current situation in southern Somalia is particularly grim, according to the FAO who say up to two million people in the country are in dire need of help. The secondary rainy season (Deyr) in the country from October to December largely failed in most agricultural areas, resulting in what could be the lowest Deyr harvest in a decade.
About 64 000 tonnes of food aid are needed until June 2006 to feed Somalia’s drought-affected population, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
The Kenyan government meanwhile has appealed to the international community for $150-million worth of aid to feed about 2,5-million people, around 10% of the population.
In eastern Ethiopia some one million people are facing severe food shortages, while eight million rely on food assistance, the FAO said. – Sapa-DPA