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Ethiopia + 6 more

ECHO Factsheet – Horn of Africa – March 2017

Attachments

Key messages

  • Severe drought has taken hold in parts of the Horn of Africa (HoA) region following a long dry spell. Some affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia were yet to recover from the 2015-16 El Niño- drought when rains failed again. 16.8 million people across the region face food and water shortages and it is predicted that the next rainy season, from March to May, will again disappoint. 10.7 million people need urgent food assistance.

  • The accumulated effects of consecutive failed rains in 2015 and 2016 are being compared to conditions in 2010-11 when 260 000 Somalis died and hundreds of thousands sought refuge in Ethiopia and Kenya. The UN has issued a famine warning for Somalia where more than half the population is now food insecure. Kenya has declared the drought a national disaster and has appealed for support.

  • Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda are among the world’s top 10 refugee host countries. Uganda is now the largest refugee recipient country in the region with over 1 million people, mainly fleeing the violence from South Sudan. Most refugees have fled conflict, hunger and water scarcity in Somalia and South Sudan. The number of South Sudanese refugees in the region has passed the 1.5 million mark. 900 000 Somali refugees live in camps and urban centres in Ethiopia and Kenya.

  • Kenya has announced its intention to close the Dadaab refugee camp where Somali refugees have been hosted for over 25 years. 260 000 Somalis still reside there today. With 1.1 million internally displaced, refugees from Yemen and insecurity across swathes of the drought-affected area, conditions in Somalia are however not conducive for a mass return