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Horn of Africa Close to Famine

An estimated 12M people in jeopardy

By Sarah Whitmire,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2011 4:03 PM CDT

(Newser) – A lack of rain and rising world prices have left an estimated 12 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia in dire need of food, the Telegraph reports. The reality is especially difficult to ignore in Dadaab, a city in northern Kenya experiencing its second-lowest rainfall in 60 years. Dadaab is home to the world’s biggest refugee camp, which is built for 90,000 but may soon have to accommodate five times that many. About 1,300 people are streaming in every day, mostly from Somalia.

“It is very close to a famine,” says a director for a Somali aid agency. An Oxfam official calls it “the worst food crisis of the 21st century," adding that "two successive poor rains, entrenched poverty, and lack of investment in affected areas have pushed 12 million people into a fight for survival." The Oxfam site has more information and ways to help here.

A Somali man who fled violence and drought in Somalia with his family sits on the ground outside a food distribution point in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.
A Somali man who fled violence and drought in Somalia with his family sits on the ground outside a food distribution point in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.   (Getty Images)
A young Somali girl who fled violence and drought in Somalia stands in line among adults outside a food distribution point in Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.
A young Somali girl who fled violence and drought in Somalia stands in line among adults outside a food distribution point in Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.   (Getty Images)
Seven-year-old Fartun Hassan hangs a cloth she had just washed on a tree at a Doctors Without Borders hospital at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.
Seven-year-old Fartun Hassan hangs a cloth she had just washed on a tree at a Doctors Without Borders hospital at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.   (Getty Images)
Seven-year-old Fartun Hassan hangs a cloth she had just washed on a tree at a Doctors Without Borders hospital at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.
Seven-year-old Fartun Hassan hangs a cloth she had just washed on a tree at a Doctors Without Borders hospital at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.   (Getty Images)
Sarura, her husband Ali, and their six children look bewildered as they just arrive at a registration and food distribution point at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 05, 2011.
Sarura, her husband Ali, and their six children look bewildered as they just arrive at a registration and food distribution point at the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 05, 2011.   (Getty Images)
Sarura Ali covers her eyes from wind blown dust as she stands with her six children outside a food distribution point in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.
Sarura Ali covers her eyes from wind blown dust as she stands with her six children outside a food distribution point in the Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya on July 5, 2011.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 16 comments
proud_prude
Jul 6, 2011 2:59 AM CDT
Africa needs increased resources through aid & loan forgiveness. Present aid levels must be doubled, at a minimum. Even then, aid will represent a fraction of the income of Western countries. Aid should shift from loans to grants. Health should be a major area of investment-AIDS & malaria kill millions every year. Another major area of investment should be infrastructure. A third is education. A fourth is peacekeeping. http://www.borooah.com/Teaching/Business%20Economics/Sub-Saharan%20Africa.pdf
Gallstone
Jul 6, 2011 1:55 AM CDT
A big problem in that part (a quite a few other parts) of Africa is the total lack governmental structure coupled with a rampant corruption (that's so ingrained, you almost can't call it corruption anymore as it has become the system).  I tend to agree with guvner in that just pumping money into that region isn't really changing anything. It's a bandaid, but that wound needs quite a few stitches... however, that would mean both social and governmental restructuring of a scale that is impossible to initiate from the outside... that has to come from the people themselves. But most of them are poor, sick and dying and the rest are living it up and don't want to see any changes happen what so ever.
guvner
Jul 5, 2011 11:54 PM CDT
This quote got me lookin:  " Dadaab is home to the world’s biggest refugee camp, ....About 1,300 people are streaming in every day, mostly from Somalia" So what's with such recent increase in Somali refugees? I thought they were all happy pirates there. Guess not: "Somali insurgency driving thousands of refugees to Kenya..Islamist militants, who've waged a two-year, blood-soaked insurgency, continue to battle progovernment forces for territory throughout southern Somalia. Since January, a surge in violence has driven more than 25,000 people into the camps of eastern Kenya" http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2009/0507/p06s15-woaf.html

 
Somalia • Kenya • Ethiopia • famine • Oxfam • food prices

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