NAIROBI, Kenya: Food security experts say life remains “extremely critical” for more than 6 million hungry people in Somalia’s historic drought, but they no longer project famine for the worst-hit population of nearly a quarter-million people between April and June.
The latest assessment released Tuesday by United Nations and partner organizations notes “very high mortality rates” in the worst-affected populations which include people who have fled to the capital, Mogadishu, and the southwestern city of Baidoa. It did not give details, and officials didn’t immediately respond.
The assessment only slightly eases the warnings of acute food insecurity as the Horn of Africa faces the possibility of a sixth straight failed rainy season in the weeks ahead. Some humanitarian and climate officials in recent weeks have warned that trends are worse than in the 2011 famine in Somalia in which a quarter-million people died.
Millions of livestock have died in the current crisis compounded by climate change and insecurity as Somalia battles thousands of fighters with Al-Qaeda’s East Africa affiliate, Al-Shabab. The UN migration agency says 3.8 million people are displaced, a record high.
The new food security assessment says nearly a half-million children in Somalia are likely to be severely malnourished this year.
The previous assessment released in December had projected famine for the people displaced to Mogadishu and Baidoa along with rural communities in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts. But the new assessment says more humanitarian aid and slightly better forecasts for the rainy season ahead “will likely contribute to a slight alleviation of the food insecurity and acute malnutrition conditions, including improved access to water.”
That depends, however, on the rainfall and whether aid can reach the most vulnerable people, the assessment says.
Somalia drought ‘extremely critical’ but no famine projected
https://arab.news/wfgtu
Somalia drought ‘extremely critical’ but no famine projected
- The latest assessment released Tuesday by United Nations and partner organizations notes “very high mortality rates”
- Millions of livestock have died in the current crisis compounded by climate change and insecurity
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
