According to the UN`s humanitarian head, parts of Somalia are on the verge of starvation due to four consecutive heavy rainy seasons that have precipitated a dreadful drought.
In a statement released Monday, Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned that famine was imminent in south-central Somalia between October and December of this year.
The harshest drought in four decades is expected to persist. In those oft-used terms, this is a humanitarian crisis, and nowhere is this more accurate than here. We are aware that the demand would increase," he continued.
At least one million Somalians have been displaced by the worst drought in decades, caused by climate change, which is also hitting the Horn of Africa as a whole, including Kenya and Ethiopia, reports Aljazeera.
Humanitarian agencies have been raising the alarm about the deteriorating situation for months, with the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations announcing last month that the number of people in danger of hunger in the area had climbed to 22 million.
UN agencies report that in Somalia alone, 7.8 million people, or over half of the population, are experiencing a famine catastrophe. At the same time, another one million have fled their homes in a frantic hunt for food and water.
