The drought in Somalia has reached an unprecedented level and has left one million people displaced, the UN and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Thursday (August 11th).
More than 755,000 people have been internally displaced this year in Somalia due to severe drought in the Horn of Africa, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the NRC.
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This brings the total figure to 1 million people displaced since January 2021, when this terrible drought began.
“
This milestone of one million people is a huge wake-up call
,” NRC Somalia director Mohamed Abdi was quoted in a statement as saying.
“
Famine now haunts the entire country.
We see more and more families forced to give up everything because there is literally no water or food in their villages.
There is an urgent need to increase aid funding before it is too late
,” he added.
Somalia has been experiencing a historic drought for two years - a situation that has not been seen for more than 40 years, according to the two organisations.
The number of extremely food insecure people is expected to rise from some 5 million to more than 7 million in the coming months, a situation exacerbated by the effects of climate change and rising food prices due to the conflict. in Ukraine.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said last week that famine could set in in eight regions of Somalia by September if crop failures and lower livestock production continue. generalize, if the prices of the main commodities continue to increase and if the
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“
The situation in Somalia was already one of the most underfunded before this latest crisis.
Although we and our humanitarian partners are doing what we can to respond to the situation, our resources are simply insufficient
,” noted UNHCR Representative in Somalia, Magatte Guisse.
In June, UNHCR announced it needed $42.6 million to help 1.5 million internally displaced people, refugees and members of host communities affected by drought in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
Of this amount, 9.5 million is intended for programs in Somalia.
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