Some 332,000 people could die in the Horn of Africa if they do not receive urgent food aid

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned this Tuesday of the urgency to assist millions of people enduring one of the longest droughts and severe recorded in the Horn of Africa, where a sixth consecutive rainy season has already begun without any precipitation.

UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, Olga Sarrado, noted that more than eight million people require food assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, stressing that about 332,000 “urgently need food, otherwise their lives are in danger”.

Sarrado explained that eight out of ten displaced persons are women and children, and warned that the lack of rain and the conflict in Somalia could force tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in the main cities and towns, especially Baidoa and Mogadishu, where the UN projects that the uprooted population could number 300,000 people by July 2023.

UNHCR asked international donors for $137 million to sustain its humanitarian programs this yearwhen more than three million refugees and internally displaced persons have been forced to leave their homes in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Lack of water, hunger and insecurity

Survival is a struggle for these uprooted communities, struggling between scarce water sources, hunger, insecurity and conflict. “They need security and assistance,” insisted Sarrado, adding that the host communities also need help.

“While famine has so far been averted in Somalia, mainly due to an intensified humanitarian response, people continue to struggle with food and water shortages as a result of massive losses of crops, livestock and income”, explained the spokeswoman.

On the other hand, UNHCR indicated that the prices of essential food and other basic products “remain at their highest point and out of reach for many. The dangerous confluence of climate and conflict in the region is worsening a humanitarian situation already terrible in itself ”, he pointed out.

According to UNHCR data, in Somalia alone 288,000 people have been displaced due to conflict and drought this year.

In addition, some 180,000 refugees from Somalia and South Sudan have crossed into drought-stricken areas of Kenya and Ethiopia.

In the Somali region of Ethiopia, already suffering from a deep drought, almost 100,000 people have arrived in Doolo in recent weeks, after fleeing conflict in the Laascaanood area of ​​Somalia.

UNHCR cited the case of a 60-year-old Somali woman in the Dadaab camps in Kenya, who endured three decades of conflict in southern Somalia and had to flee due to extreme hunger.

A young woman searches for water in the Afar region, Ethiopia.

The earth can no longer give them food

“Most of the newly displaced may never return to their places of origin because the land can no longer feed them, and insecurity will only increase as competition for resources grows which are already scarce”, added the (International Organization for Migration (IOM) in an alert about a record 3.8 million people displaced in Somalia.

“As a result, entire families will be born and raised in informal settlements amid inadequate living conditions,” he stressed.

UNHCR plans to provide more basic relief items, including emergency shelter and household items for newly arrived refugees and displaced people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Also, it increase the water supply with trucks while additional wells are drilled and existing water and sanitation systems are restored.

The relief operation includes cash transfers for the most vulnerable and support for health facilities to extend nutritional assistance to women and children, as well as medical treatment for related diseases.

“It is urgent to provide this help and protection to save millions of lives,” stressed the UNHCR spokeswoman, lamenting that last year’s appeal obtained less than half the amount required to respond to the drought.