One in four people in Somalia is at serious risk of starvation as a result of the drought that has plagued the country, ravaged by decades of war, after three seasons of low rainfall and a fourth on the way, warned the UN.
The United Nations fears that the crisis will worsen and that 4.6 million people will need food aid by May 2022, a consequence of the worst drought in the country in more than 30 years.
Lack of food, water and grazing forced 169,000 people to flee their homes, a number that could rise to 1.4 million in the next six months, the UN warned in a statement.
Natural disasters, not conflicts, have been the main cause in recent years of displacement in Somalia, considered one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
“It’s a perfect storm brewing,” Adam Abdelmoula, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told AFP. He warned that 300,000 children under the age of five are at risk of severe malnutrition in the coming months.
“They will die if we don’t help them in a timely manner,” he added. The UN has made an appeal to raise 1.5 billion dollars to fund the crisis response.
A total of 7.7 million people, nearly half of the Somali population of 15.9 million, will need humanitarian aid and protection by 2022, an increase of 30% in one year, according to the UN.
At least seven in 10 Somalis live below the poverty line, and drought has destroyed their already precarious sources of income, with the loss of livestock and reduced harvests. And all this with high inflation.
“There is a high risk that, without immediate humanitarian aid, children, women and men will start to starve in Somalia,” said Somali Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Crisis Management, Khadija Diriye.
The Somali government declared a humanitarian emergency in November due to the drought.
Drought and flooding have also recently affected Kenya and Sudan, where they have killed livestock, destroyed pastures and razed crops.
The lack of water and food increases the fear of conflicts between communities in a dispute for resources.
Scientists believe that the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is due to climate change.
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