UN: 13 million at risk of extreme hunger in the Horn of Africa

(ANSA) - NAIROBI, 08 FEB - About 13 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are at risk of extreme hunger while the Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst drought in decades: this was announced today by the United Nations World Food Program (Wfp).

    According to the agency, there are now three consecutive rainy seasons and the region is now in the driest conditions since 1981. Drought has destroyed crops and resulted in an "unusually" high number of head deaths, forcing rural families to they live on pastoralism and agriculture to abandon their homes.

    Water and pastures are scarce and below-average rainfall forecasts for the next few months threaten to bring only more misery, said Michael Dunford, WFP's regional director in East Africa.

"Unharvested are ruined, livestock are dying and hunger is mounting as recurring droughts hit the Horn of Africa," he stressed in a statement.

"The situation requires immediate humanitarian action" to avoid a repetition of a crisis like the 2011 Somali one, when 250,000 people died of starvation due to a prolonged drought, Dunford added.

    Food aid is being distributed in an arid area running through Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, where malnutrition rates are high and some 13 million people are at risk of extreme hunger in the first quarter of this year.

    About 5.7 million people needed food assistance in south and south-east Ethiopia, including half a million malnourished children and mothers.

In Somalia, moreover, the number of people classified as severely hungry is expected to increase from 3.5 million to 4.6 million in homage, unless urgent action is taken, warns the WFP.

Another 2.8 million people are in need of assistance in south-east and northern Kenya, where a drought emergency was declared in September.

    According to the WFP, $ 327 million is needed to respond to immediate needs over the next six months and support rural communities to be able to more easily cope with recurring climate shocks.

(HANDLE).