- According to the World Food Programme, the north, and east of Kenya are facing severe drought conditions leading to starvation of at least 2.4 million people.
- The scale of drought as per reports has increased threefold from last year due to failure of two consecutive rainy seasons creating an emergency situation.
- Food scarcity is expected to continue into 2022 in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia and Somalia is also driven by multiple reasons like conflict, drought, floods and economic shocks on household food and income sources.
According to the World Food Programme, the north and east of Kenya are facing severe drought conditions leading to the starvation of at least 2.4 million people . The scale of drought as per reports has increased threefold from last year due to the failure of two consecutive rainy seasons creating an emergency situation. Food scarcity is expected to continue into 2022 in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia and Somalia also, driven by multiple reasons like conflict, drought, floods and economic shocks on household food and income sources.
The failure of rains and water scarcity has led to cross-border conflicts, looting and attacks by bandits too. With no sign of rains coming, the crisis is bound to deepen. Normally, water is drawn in turns according to an agreement reached between local communities. With tribes from nearby Uganda and South Sudan also searching for food and water, conflicts have become frequent. As people are forced to migrate to areas where they can find water and pasture, the areas become prone to attacks, as people struggle to share the same resources, especially with pastoralists from other countries.
A December bulletin issued by Kenya’s National Drought Management Authority has identified eight counties at the “alarm phase” of worsening drought.
