The United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths on Monday warned that Somalia was on the brink of famine due to four failed rainy seasons leading to a devastating drought, reported The UN News.
“Famine is at the door and we are receiving a final warning,” Griffiths said at a press conference in Mogadishu.
The UN relief chief said that famine was likely to occur in two areas in south-central Somalia between October and December this year. He warned that the drought, the worst in four decades, is forecast to continue.
“This is, in those often-used words, and no more true than here, a humanitarian catastrophe. We know that the needs will grow,” the UN relief chief added.
Notably, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has forecast that the Horn of Africa is likely to face a fifth straight failed rainy season over the months of October to December, which is would put many lives in the affected regions at risk.
More than 1 million people have been forced to flee Somalia due to the worst drought in decades, driven by climate change, in a desperate search for food and water.
Back in 2011, famine in some parts of Somalia resulted in the deaths of 260,000 people, more than half of them children under the age of six.
Various humanitarian agencies have voiced the alarm over the deteriorating situation in the Horn of Africa for months. Somalia and Ethiopia and Kenya are in the grip of the worst drought in more than 40 years.
According to UN agencies, the number of people facing crisis hunger levels in Somalia is 7.8 million, or about half the population.
The UN humanitarian chief warned that one and a half million children across Somalia risk acute malnutrition by October. He appealed humanitarian organizations to provide immediate and safe access to all the needy people, and to raise more funding to tackle the crisis.
