Drought puts 40 000 children at risk in Horn of Africa, says UN

GENEVA – Months of scorching drought have left 40 000 children in the Horn of Africa at imminent risk of dying of hunger, the United Nations warned yesterday as it launched an urgent appeal for more aid.

Torrential rains last month only made the situation worse, killing many of the cattle which had survived the previous six months of drought and bringing malaria and other disease, the UN children’s agency Unicef said. “Around 40 000 children are so malnourished that they face the prospect of death in the months ahead,” Unicef’s deputy executive director Rima Saleh said in a report released in Geneva.”This drought has killed up to half the animal population of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa.Rain doesn’t bring that back.A pastoralist without a herd is like a farmer without seeds.”Unicef said that around half the 16 million nomadic populations scattered across outlying regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, including 1,6 million children under five, were in need of emergency aid.But donor nations have only provided a third of the US$80-million appeal launched by Unicef, which called yesterday for more cash to support its efforts.The United Nations as a whole has asked donors to give US$426 million in aid to east Africa, including Djibouti and Eritrea, this year.Salah, who recently visited East Africa to assess the crisis, stressed that the rains had not improved the food supply of the hunger-stricken locals.- Nampa-AFP”Around 40 000 children are so malnourished that they face the prospect of death in the months ahead,” Unicef’s deputy executive director Rima Saleh said in a report released in Geneva.”This drought has killed up to half the animal population of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa.Rain doesn’t bring that back.A pastoralist without a herd is like a farmer without seeds.”Unicef said that around half the 16 million nomadic populations scattered across outlying regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, including 1,6 million children under five, were in need of emergency aid.But donor nations have only provided a third of the US$80-million appeal launched by Unicef, which called yesterday for more cash to support its efforts.The United Nations as a whole has asked donors to give US$426 million in aid to east Africa, including Djibouti and Eritrea, this year.Salah, who recently visited East Africa to assess the crisis, stressed that the rains had not improved the food supply of the hunger-stricken locals.- Nampa-AFP