Southern Africa fights flooding . . . as Somali drought claims 110 in 48 hours
NAIROBI. — Prolonged drought across the East African region and heavy flooding in some southern African countries are compounding the effects of conflicts to make people’s lives difficult.
Against the global trend of good harvests, Africa, especially its eastern part, faces the challenge of worsening food security due to drought and conflicts.
Some 37 countries require external assistance for food, including 28 African countries, as a result of lingering effects of last year’s El Nino-triggered drought on harvests, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
In South Sudan, nearly half of the population of 11,3 million are in urgent need of food aid as the UN declared famine in the East African nation last week.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan, with over 2 million displaced as unrelenting violence followed despite a peace pact signed in August 2015.
In Somalia, some 44 local and international aid agencies have appealed to UN to take urgent action to avert possible famine in the Horn of Africa nation where at least 6,2 million people face acute food shortage.
In a joint letter to the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, the agencies urged the UN chief to encourage international community to step up efforts to ensure that the mistakes made in 2011 MOGADISHU/ NAIROBI. — Some 110 people have died in southern Somalia in the last two days from famine and diarrhoea resulting from a drought, the prime minister said on Saturday, as the area braces itself for widespread shortages of food.
In February, United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said the drought in Somalia could lead to up to 270 000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition this year.
“It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by famine and diarrhoea at
are not repeated and push for immediate drought relief transitioning to longer restoration of livelihoods.
The UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also warned that “Severe drought, rising prices, continued insecurity and access limitations, and depressed rain forecasts suggest famine is possible again in Somalia.”
In the Greater Horn of Africa, the number of severely food-insecure people has increased to 22,9 million in February as a prolonged drought led to failed harvests, said the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian the same time.
In the last 48 hours, 110 people died due to famine and diarrhoea in Bay region,” Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire’s office said in a statement.
“The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis wherever they are to help and save the dying Somalis,” he said in the statement released after a meeting of a famine response committee.
In 2011, some 260 000 people starved to death due to famine in Somalia.
The country also continues to be rocked by security prob-
Affairs (OCHA) in a recent report.
OCHA warned that drought in the Horn of Africa is expected to intensify in the coming months, with a delayed start to the rainy season and depressed levels of precipitation forecast for MarchMay in most of the region.
Extensive crop failures and record low vegetation, together with significant livestock deaths, are currently observed across Somalia, southern and eastern Ethiopia, and northern and coastal Kenya.
While East Africa reels over protracted drought and delayed rainy season, some countries in Southern Africa experienced lems, with the capital Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government coming under regular attack from Al- Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab.
UN calls for measures to save lives in drought-hit Kenya
Meanwhile, the UN relief chief on Saturday urged international support for the estimated 2,7 million people in parts of Kenya who urgently need food and water following the onset of a severe drought.
Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement
excessive rainfall most recently, incurring heavy human and property losses.
In Zimbabwe, the Government has declared a state of disaster, saying at least 246 people died and over 2 000 others were left homeless as torrential rains continued to unleash flood.
Zimbabwe has received above-normal rain in recent months that has resulted in more that 85 percent of the country’s dams spilling. The rains are expected to continue until the end of March.
Meanwhile, Mozambique is also going through a rainy season with unusual rains, which swelled issued in Nairobi that the world must act now to save lives in Kenya and Horn of Africa region ravaged by severe drought.
“Famine has reared its ugly head in neighbouring South Sudan, Somalia is at risk for the second time this decade, and more than 2,7 million Kenyans are severely food insecure,” warned O’Brien.
“Crops are failing, food prices are rising, and families are going hungry. The spectre of hunger and disease is haunting East Africa again. We need to put a stop to this,” he added. — Reuters/Xinhua.
rivers in some provinces.
Five people died and five others were missing after water from a overflowing river washed away a bus which carried them, Mozambican Authorities said on Wednesday.
In February, tens of thousands of people living along Mozambique’s coastline were affected by Cyclone Dineo, killing at least seven and injuring some 50 people, according to official figures.
In Namibia, heavy rains started pounding the northern regions of Namibia earlier this week, leaving some towns under water. — Xinhua.