Donors pledge nearly $1.4 billion for drought relief in Horn of Africa

Donors pledged $1.39 billion on Tuesday for humanitarian and development assistance in response to the drought in the Horn of Africa, which has left more than 15 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia severely food insecure.

The situation is particularly dire in six areas of Somalia, where famine is imminent if rains fail this season, food prices rise further, and humanitarian aid is not scaled up to reach the most vulnerable populations.

The pledges were made at a high-level round table in Geneva co-hosted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the European Union's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), with senior representatives from Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia in attendance.

Humanitarians have requested $1.4 billion for humanitarian assistance and protection for drought-stricken people in the Horn of Africa.

Humanitarian agencies will use the funds pledged today to provide immediate food, nutrition, cash, and health assistance, as well as fodder and medicines to keep livestock alive.

The round table was held Tuesday as the Horn of Africa experiences its fourth consecutive poor rainy season, which is already causing acute hunger and malnutrition, mass displacement, disease outbreaks, and increased security risks for millions of people.

Drought in the Horn of Africa is compounded by conflict in Somalia and Ethiopia, two years of pandemic-related socioeconomic stress, and a long-running desert locust crisis.

The region is also dealing with the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, which is raising the prices of basic foods and other necessities such as fuel and fertilizer.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said: “Once again, vulnerable people across the Horn of Africa are falling victim to the cruelty of acute hunger and potential famine in a crisis that is not of their own making. We must all step up and show the people of this region that we are here to help alleviate their suffering and that there is no place for famine in the twenty-first century.”The EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “The humanitarian consequences of the historical drought affecting the Horn of Africa are dramatic. Between 15 and 16 million people are already affected by the drought and in need of life-saving assistance. In addition, the dependency on Ukrainian and Russian imports is already impacting food availability and affordability in the region. The time to act is now.”

More than 6 million Somalis are acutely food insecure, with 81,000 at catastrophic levels, and 1.4 million children are acutely malnourished. Drought affects 90% of Somalia's districts, and up to 90% of its water sources are drying up, including the Shabelle and Juba Rivers, which are at historic lows.

Drought has displaced 759,400 people since early 2021, half a million of whom were displaced in the first three months of this year.

An estimated 3.5 million Kenyans, or nearly a quarter of the population in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of north and east Kenya, are food insecure.

General acute malnutrition levels for children under the age of five in Mandera exceed 34%, with severe acute malnutrition levels at 7.9%, far exceeding emergency thresholds.

As herders and residents are forced to travel, encroaching on each other's territory, intercommunal tensions over access to water and pasture are rising.

In Ethiopia, up to 6.5 million people are food insecure in the Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples', Southwest, and Somali regions, and 1.5 million livestock have died, destroying people's livelihoods.

At least 286,000 people have fled to the Somali and Oromia regions in search of water, pasture, or assistance. Other people, usually the elderly or the sick, are frequently unable to travel.

Due to displacement and the need to travel further for water, the drought is causing severe water shortages and food insecurity, eroding children's nutritional status, and exposing women and girls to gender-based violence.