The Horn of Africa is on the brink of a
major humanitarian crisis with some 12.4 million people in five countries
facing severe food shortages and possibly famine because of drought.
The drought is an endemic natural disaster
that has hit Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. Pastoralists
in southern and eastern Ethiopia, Somalia and northern Kenya are the worst
affected populations.
In total, some 367,000 people are threatened by drought in Eritrea, 7.7 million in Ethiopia, 2.7 million in Kenya, 1.2 million in Somalia and 75,000 in the Sudan.
The current crisis will deepen if rains fail to arrive in time to save the belg harvest, especially in Ethiopia, where the drought-affected population accounts for 80 percent of the overall total.
Drought on the Horn: History repeating itself
| Country |
Year
|
No's affected
|
| Ethiopia |
1973
|
3 million
|
| Sudan |
1984
|
8.4 million
|
| Ethiopia |
1984
|
7.8 million
|
| Sudan |
1991
|
8.6 million
|
| Ethiopia |
1991
|
6.2 million
|
| Kenya |
1992
|
2.7 million
|
While drought is the major cause of the food shortages, the impact of this natural disaster is being worsened by man-made factors: conflict and insecurity.
Ethiopia and Eritrea are currently engaged in a vicious border war; Sudan is plagued by civil war and has the world's largest population of internally displaced persons; and, in Somalia, fighting between rival militias is playing havoc with food security.
The conflicts bring added challenges to humanitarian aid operations in the region. They include looting of food supplies; hostage-taking and even the killing of aid workers; logistical problems in the transportation of existing food stocks.