(ANSA) - NAIROBI, APRIL 19 - Twenty million people are at risk of dying of hunger this year as the delayed rain worsens the terrible drought in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Admitting is the UN.
The extreme drought that lasted months left the Horn of Africa on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, destroying crops and livestock and forcing large numbers of people to leave their homes in search of food and water.
As the long-awaited rains have not materialized for nearly a month in the current rainy season, "the number of starving people due to drought could increase from the current 14 million to 20 million by 2022," announced the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). .
Six million Somalis, or 40 percent of the population, are facing extreme levels of food insecurity and there is "a very real risk of famine in the next few months" if current conditions persist, the WFP said.
In Kenya, half a million people are on the verge of a starvation crisis, with communities in the north of the country at particular risk due to their dependence on livestock.
Meanwhile, malnutrition rates in drought-affected southern and southeastern Ethiopia have risen above emergency thresholds, while the north of the country is the victim of a 17-month war between government forces and Tigris rebels.
The dire conditions were exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, which contributed to the rise in food and fuel prices and the
disruption of global supply chains, the WFP continued.
(HANDLE).
