Agencies-Gaza post
Famine threatens at least 22 million people in Africa
The Nations World Food Program warned Friday that by September famine will threaten at least 22 million people in the Horn of Africa, where the risk of food insecurity is increasing due to record levels of drought.
The program indicated that “the lack of rainfall for the fourth consecutive season” since the end of the year 2020, exacerbated the worst drought in 40 years, and led to the death of millions of livestock, destroyed crops and drowned areas in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia in famine-like conditions, leaving more than a million Persons their homes in search of water and food.
At the beginning of the year, the World Food Program warned that 13 million people in the Horn of Africa were severely food insecure due to drought.
By the middle of the year, after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine that captured the attention of international donors and raised food and fuel prices, that number had risen to 20 million, according to the programme.
“Now, the number is expected to rise again to at least 22 million people by September,” the World Food Program said in a statement.
“This number will continue to rise, and hunger will worsen if the rains do not fall, from October to December, and the most vulnerable people do not receive humanitarian assistance,” the statement continued.
He stressed that famine “is now a grave danger, especially in Somalia.”
“There does not appear to be an end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must have the resources necessary to save lives and prevent people from sliding into catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation,” the statement quoted WFP Executive Director David Beasley as saying.
“The world must act now to protect the most vulnerable communities from the threat of famine in the Horn of Africa,” Beasley added.
The World Food Program stressed that it urgently needs $418 million over the next six months to meet these growing needs.
Last month, the United States pledged $1.2 billion in food aid to help avert famine in the Horn of Africa and urged other countries, including China, to do more to address the food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
