Periods of drought and blocked wheat exports from Ukraine lead to food shortages in East Africa. UN organizations warn that tens of thousands of children there are currently at risk of starvation. The situation is particularly serious in Somalia: 45 percent of the population there cannot feed their families.
According to the children’s charity UNICEF, tens of thousands of children in countries on the Horn of Africa are at risk of starvation. If the world community doesn’t act immediately, the death toll will skyrocket, UNICEF Southeast Africa director Rania Dagash said in Geneva. According to UNICEF, more than 1.7 million children in the countries of the Horn of Africa suffer from acute malnutrition. That is 15 percent more than five months ago. Horn of Africa countries include Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.
According to the UN, Somalia in particular is on the verge of a famine. In the fourth rainy season in a row, it hadn’t rained enough, said Etienne Peterschmitt, the representative of the UN agricultural organization FAO, via video link from Mogadishu to journalists in Geneva. The harvests have practically failed. Depending on the region, it rained 40 to 70 percent less than usual. Food prices have risen drastically and the necessary funds for humanitarian aid have not yet been raised. “Hundreds of thousands of Somalis face starvation and death,” said Peterschmitt.
Around 7.1 million people, 45 percent of the population, have problems getting enough food for their families. Since mid-April, the number of those most severely affected has risen by 160 percent to 213,000. You are at risk of starvation. Since mid-2021, around three million animals have died due to drought and disease. 1.5 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Internal conflicts made it difficult to care for the people. According to Peterschmitt, the FAO urgently needs 105 million dollars (almost 100 million euros). She wants to support rural people both with cash to buy groceries and in agriculture to improve future harvests and enable them to stay in their villages.
The Ukraine war is exacerbating the situation in East Africa, as Russia is blocking Ukrainian ports as part of its war of aggression. Ukraine was among the largest wheat exporters. Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya have been major buyers so far. Dagash appealed to the G7 countries to seek solutions to the hunger crisis at their meeting at the end of June. Macky Sall, President of the African Union and Senegal, will also be there.
