Luul Sankus and her family are farmers. When Somali rains dried up, they were forced to make the 100-mile trek on foot to Hurufle Village in southern Somalia. They stayed there as refugees until Luul had to bring her sick son to a Doctors Without Borders hospital.
“That’s why I am here.” She told the agency. “[In Hurufle], there was no treatment, no shelter, no food.” It’s now been over nine months since she’s seen her home.
She’s not alone. The number of East Africans in need has reached over 11.6 million, with Somalia being most affected.
Hundreds of thousands of people displaced within Somalia are desperately searching for food and shelter. Most live out in the open or in makeshift camps. They have nothing left to sell in order to buy food.
Livestock are similarly in dire straits. Many have died. The survivors can’t reproduce and have no milk. For children, who depend on animal milk for protein, this can be deadly.
“That’s why I am here.” She told the agency. “[In Hurufle], there was no treatment, no shelter, no food.” It’s now been over nine months since she’s seen her home.
She’s not alone. The number of East Africans in need has reached over 11.6 million, with Somalia being most affected.
Hundreds of thousands of people displaced within Somalia are desperately searching for food and shelter. Most live out in the open or in makeshift camps. They have nothing left to sell in order to buy food.
Livestock are similarly in dire straits. Many have died. The survivors can’t reproduce and have no milk. For children, who depend on animal milk for protein, this can be deadly.
“Many of the women I met in Somalia had lost their children and had no one to depend on, but the humanitarian agencies on the ground,” World Food Program Executive Director Josette Sheeran, said in a statement.
Additionally, because livestock are unhealthy, they sell for low prices. Pastoralists need grain and have nothing, but livestock to trade, which further inflates grain prices and creates a vicious cycle.
The number of Somalis in need of emergency humanitarian aid has increased by 50 percent since April, according to the International Medical Corps.
The World Food Program is feeding 1.5 million Somalis. Every day, 85,000 people get their hot meals from WFP-supported centers in the capital, Mogadishu. Still, the agency said it’s facing severe food shortages, and could run out of food in Mogadishu by August if it keeps distributing at the same rate.
Dangerous conditions in Somalia further complicate organizations’ aid missions. Fourteen WFP staff members were killed in Somalia in the last two years. Terrorist group al-Shabab banned Western aid organizations in 2010 and only lifted it recently. During the ban, many organizations withdrew from Somalia, which organizations say have made the situation there worse. In January 2010, WFP also withdrew from Southern Somalia because of the dangers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has given food and emergency supplies to over 300,000 Somalis. It has also provided fishermen with fishing sticks; seeds, ploughs, and irrigation pumps to farmers, and clean water access for 400,000 people.
Doctors Without Borders says it is treating more than 10,000 severely malnourished children throughout the famine region.
On Wednesday, the European Commission allocated another almost $40 million to the crisis not just in Somalia but the Horn of Africa. That comes in addition to the nearly $100 million already donated this year.
Despite the aid that is already committed and being distributed, it is still not enough. On Thursday, the United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) asked for an additional $8.6 million in donations to deal with the hunger crisis in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia in addition to the $136 million already requested. The funds are needed to provide basic supplies like kitchen utensils, plastic sheets, blankets, and food to around 180,000 displaced persons.
On July 25, heads from groups like WFP, Oxfam, and the U.N. met in Rome to discuss how they will handle the famine.
“Lives in East Africa hang in the balance, now, today,” says Oxfam Chief Executive Barbara Stoking at the meeting. “There can be no problem more urgent than millions of people staring at the specter of starvation in this part of Africa.”
“This should not be happening,” she said, adding, “It is a colossal outrage that the warnings went unheeded, that the lessons of previous famines have been ignored.”
