With
only one-quarter of
expected rainfall received in the Horn of Africa in the October-December
period, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for an
immediate response to prevent widespread drought conditions from
becoming a catastrophe.
“The
magnitude
of the situation calls for scaled up action and coordination at national
and regional levels,” FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural
Resources, Maria Helena Semedo told a high-level panel on humanitarian
situation in the Horn of Africa chaired by
the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, which was held
yesterday on the side lines of the 28th African Union (AU) Summit in
Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
“This
is, above
all, a livelihoods and humanitarian emergency – and the time to act is
now. We cannot wait for a disaster like the famine in 2011,” she added.
FAO
estimates
that over 17 million people are currently in crisis and emergency food
insecurity levels in member-countries of the Intergovernmental Authority
on Development (IGAD), namely Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, which are
in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
Currently,
close to 12 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are in
need of food assistance. Much of Somalia, north-east and coastal Kenya,
south-east of Ethiopia as well as the Afar region are still to recover
from El Niño-induced drought of 2015/16 while
South Sudan and Darfur region of Sudan are facing the protracted
insecurity.
Acute
food
shortage and malnutrition also remains to be a major concern in many
parts of South Sudan, Sudan (west Darfur) and Uganda’s Karamoja region.
FAO warns that
if response is not immediate and sufficient, the risks are massive and the costs high.
For
his part
Mr. Guterres called for a stronger commitment to work together: “We must
express total solidarity with the people of Ethiopia on the looming
drought, as a matter of justice.”
“FAO’s
partnership
to build resilience to shocks and crises in the Horn of Africa is
critical and will increase,” said FAO Assistant Director-General and
Regional Representative for Africa Bukar Tijani.
Recently,
FAO
and IGAD agreed on some key steps to enhance collaboration in mitigating
the severe drought currently affecting the countries in the Horn of
Africa region and strengthening food security and resilience analysis
