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Affected countries

The 2006 Horn of Africa food crisis was an acute shortage of food affecting the countries in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia) as well as northeastern Kenya. The United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated on January 6, 2006, that more than 11 million people in these countries may be affected by an impending widespread famine, largely attributed to a severe drought, and exacerbated by military conflicts in the region.^[1]

[edit] Causes

These conditions of drought, together with other factors including high cereal prices, overpopulation in the region, and conflict, are leading to conditions of famine. In the present 2006 drought, claims about factors transforming drought into famine include a ban on livestock imports to markets in the Persian Gulf States, which has reduced the income of livestock-dependent farmers, further increasing food insecurity.^[2] The next chance for drought relief is in March, with the next rainy season.

[edit] Current situation

Timeline of critical events in Kenya. Graphic from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS), USAID.

[edit] Djibouti

Djibouti was a severely drought affected; the FAO estimated that about one third of the population (400 000 people) needed food aid.^[1]

[edit] Ethiopia

The FAO estimated that more than one million people^[1] in the Somali Region of Ethiopia were facing severe food shortages. Although crops are currently being harvested, shortages are still expected to occur in the country's south-east.

[edit] Kenya

Crop failure, drought and depleted livestock herds led to famine conditions in the Cushitic-inhabited northern and eastern pastoral districts of Mandera, Wajir, and Marsabit.^[3][4] As of January 6, 2006, approximately 30 deaths were reported. Some 2.5 million people (10% of the population)^[1] required food aid over the next six months, which led the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to declare a national disaster.^[5]

[edit] Somalia

The situation in Somalia was the worst of the four countries. About two million people^[1] in the country's southern pastoral regions required humanitarian assistance. The prolonged absence of a strong central government and poor transportation infrastructure also posed problems for the distribution of food aid.^[6]

[edit] Relief effort

In February 2006, UNICEF warned that 1.5 million children under the age of five were being threatened by the drought and called for $16 million USD to help fund its relief efforts in the region.^[7]

[edit] See also

• 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• "Horn of Africa Famine Imminent says FAO", Adankronos International, January 6, 2006
• Africa Weather Hazards Assessment - USAID FEWS-NET (Famine Early Warning Systems Network)
• Crops & Drought: Drought in East Africa - NASA Earth Observatory, Natural hazards.
• The Food Crisis in Africa, Integrated Regional Information Networks, overview with updates
• Action for Africa Appeal, IR Worldwide, International Humanitarian NGO