Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
12 July 2011
Dadaab — Kenya is experiencing one of the worst droughts since 1995, a US agency on food security has warned.
Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) said in a statement that large-scale emergency assistance was urgently needed in the region to save lives and treat acute malnutrition, adding that the current humanitarian response was inadequate.
According to the agency, Kenya has experienced two consecutive seasons of low rainfall, resulting in one of the driest years since 1995; one characterised by crop failure and rising food prices.
Among other countries hard hit by the drought are Ethiopia and Somalia. However, Somalia has been cited as the hardest hit of the three countries.
An estimated 1300 Somalis, most of them children, are arriving everyday at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, fleeing the drought that has destroyed their crops and livestock. A number of Children refugees are feared dead, during the journey or shortly after arrival in the camp.
Bishop Giorgio Bertini of Djibouti and Apostolic Administrator in Mogadishu told CISA that Caritas-Somalia has started a project for drought affected persons in the region. He however said that little was being done in response to the drought.
Somalia Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit says that 2.85 million people, a third of the population, are in dire need of urgent humanitarian aid.
The UNHCR wants Kenya to open a new settlement for refugees and to allow the completion Ifo camp to enable relief agencies to reach them. According to the refugee body, Dadaab camp, which can only take 90,000 refugees, is currently stretched beyond its capacity by nearly five times.
The current drought is estimated to have affected at least 10 million people across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia.
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