- Somalia – ‘Babies and young children dying of malnutrition and measles’
- Kenya – ‘Children aching with hunger, shivering with cold, clinging onto life’
- Ethiopia – Drought, climate change, conflict, ‘don’t know how much more people can take’
An unprecedented fifth consecutive failed rainy season in the Horn of Africa is causing starvation on a scale not seen in the region for many years, Islamic Relief is warning.
The longest and most severe drought in more than 70 years has plunged millions of people in Somalia to the verge of famine. Now the October to December Deyr rainy season has been well below average across the country, with some areas receiving hardly any rain at all. A sixth failed rainy season in early 2023 is forecast, which could lead to famine and hunger on an apocalyptic scale.
Islamic Relief says that international governments are failing to provide the aid that’s needed. 28 million people across the Horn of Africa are facing acute food shortages. But as we approach the end of the year, the 2022 drought response plans for Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are only around 50% funded.
Yusuf Roble, Islamic Relief’s Head of Region for East Africa says: “Regardless of whether famine is formally declared or not, we see people dying every day from lack of food and water. Our staff around the region are visibly disturbed by what they are seeing in the communities where we work. People have become used to coping with one or two failed rains, but five is unprecedented. This lack of rain is no doubt exacerbated by climate change and people here are paying with their lives for the world’s failure to act.”
Somalia – Babies dying of malnutrition and measles in Baidoa
One of the worst affected areas in Somalia is Baidoa which is currently hosting the largest number of displaced people in the country after the capital Mogadishu. Food prices have rocketed in the area, where the price of staple foods such as red sorghum and white maize are now 75% higher than this time last year.
Ishmail Hussein, Field Monitor for Islamic Relief based in Baidoa, said:
“I have never witnessed a situation like this in my life. Many babies and young children are dying of malnutrition and measles. If this lack of rain continues, we expect many more deaths.
“Huge numbers of displaced people are flocking to Baidoa from other parts of the region, but there is nothing for them. They are crammed into already overcrowded camps, rife with disease.
“Our work is so important, but it feels overwhelming when the need is so great. We urgently need more support.”
Kenya – Children dying and ‘clinging on to life”
Mohamed Abdi Hassan, Islamic Relief Kenya’s Emergency Response Coordinator, has spent the last month in Wajir and Marsabit, two of the worst affected districts in the country. He said:
“The situation in northern Kenya now is truly dire. Everywhere you go there is no water in the wells and boreholes. People can be pumping for 30 minutes and they will draw nothing.
“I travelled by car from Wajir to Moyale and the roadsides were littered with animal carcasses. I saw so many dead animals, cows, camels, goats, all sorts. It’s the biggest migration for pasture I’ve ever known and conflicts are increasing all the time as people fight for small amounts of water.
“Thirteen children died of malnutrition while I was in Moyale. As a father myself, I find it heart-breaking to see the children suffering so much, aching with hunger in the day then shivering with cold at night in the open air. They are literally clinging onto life.
“A few weeks ago, I met a woman in her thirties who had two one-month old babies. She was clearly malnourished and was trying to breast-feed her babies but there was nothing there. They were crying out of hunger, suckling on nothing, taking any nutrition that the mother had. It was too much. I travelled to the border to fetch some milk for them. I’ve been doing this job for 10 years but it’s never been this difficult.
“It feels overwhelming trying to help as the need is so great. What we can do is important, but it feels like a drop in the ocean.”
Ethiopia – ‘don’t know how much more these people can take”
Fekadu Mandefro, Islamic Relief Communications Coordinator, recently visited the Somali Region in the east of Ethiopia and was shocked by what he saw:
“I’ve never seen so many acutely malnourished children. There is no food, no water, no pasture for the animals, nothing. During other droughts I am used to seeing people lose their animals, but this time so many people have lost their entire herds – even including camels that can usually resist the drought – and they don’t know what to do. Climate change has really hit these people hard.
“I don’t know how much more these people can take. On our way into the region, we met a community who had left their village near Gode town as there was no support and they were in dire need. The few animals that they had left were looted by militants who had crossed into Ethiopia from Somalia. And on top of that, inflation has rocketed in Ethiopia due to the drought and the war in Ukraine and food prices are beyond people’s reach. Islamic Relief is responding to the crisis within its capacity but the needs on the ground are enormous and additional resources are needed.”
