2020–2023 Horn of Africa drought

The 2020–2023 Horn of Africa drought is an ongoing drought that hit the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The rainy season of 2022 was recorded to be the driest in over 40 years,[5][6] with an estimated 43,000 in Somalia dying in 2022.[7][8] As of 2023, the region is now in its 5th failed rainy season[9] and a 6th failed season is predicted.[10]

2020–2023 Horn of Africa drought
CountrySomalia, southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, and northern and eastern Kenya[1]
LocationEast Africa
PeriodOctober 2020 – present
Theorysevere drought, irregular rainfall
Effect on demographics36.4 million affected in total,[2] 23.5 million face extreme hunger, 1.5 million are displaced, [3] and 13.2 million livestock dead. [4]

Background

The drought is preceded by the 2011 East Africa drought and the 2017 Somali drought, and is caused by the El Niño effect.[11] The negative conditions of the Indian Ocean Dipole is also a contributor to the drought.[12]

Humanitarian situation

As of November 29, 2022, 36.4 million are reported to be affected in total, 24.1 million in Ethiopia, 7.8 million in Somalia and 4.5 million in Kenya. This includes 9 million women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) who face dangers to their health and aggravated risks of gender-based violence due to the drought.[2] 18 million are facing extreme hunger, 1.5 million are displaced,.[1] With 9.5 million livestock being reported dead, broken down into 4 million in Ethiopia, 2.5 million in Kenya and over 3 million in Somalia, the region has seen monetary losses resulting in $1.5 billion being lost in livestock alone.[2] 5.1 million children are acutely malnourished in drought-affected areas, of whom nearly 2.7 million are in Ethiopia, 0.64 million in Kenya and 1.8 million in Somalia.[2]

Somalia
Further information: 2021 Somali drought

In Somalia, 7.8 million people face extreme hunger, a number that is expected to rise to 8 million by mid-2023, or half of the nations population.[13] The droughts effects are further exacerbated by the Russo-Ukrainian War, as Somalia exported 90% of its wheat from the region, with its own farming capabilities destroyed in the 3 decade long Somali Civil War.[13] By 2022 the drought had already claimed the lives of 43,000 people in Somalia half of which under the age of 5.[8] The Baidoa and Burhakaba districts in the Bay region of the country are the most affected and are closest to famine as of now.[14]

Kenya

In Kenya the northernmost regions of the country, the Turkana, Samburu, Marsabit, Isiolo, Mandera, and Garissa counties remain the most affected by the drought, Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, or ASAL. The drought has exacerbated conflict in the region, with the nations pastoralists being most affected,[15] with the violence growing to such an issue that Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, deemed it a "national emergency".[16] Furthermore, a large amount of school children have had to drop out to support their families due to the situation.[17]

Government response

The Kenyan government has taken steps to protect pastoralists against the drought, allowing pastoralists to sign up in a $120 million insurance scheme that will help them when drought hits, backed by the World Bank.[18]

Ethiopia

Overall

On 29 March 2022, the International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFCR) reported that 6.8 million Ethiopians were in need of humanitarian assistance.[19] By October the same year, UNICEF reported that around 29.7 million people in Ethiopia were in need of humanitarian assistance.[20]

In northern Ethiopia
This section is an excerpt from Famine in northern Ethiopia (2020–present).[edit]
May 2021 map of people in need of humanitarian assistance that received food aid in the Tigray Region.

Beginning with the onset of the Tigray War in November 2020, acute food shortages leading to death and starvation became widespread in northern Ethiopia, and the Tigray, Afar and Amhara Regions in particular. As of August 2022, there are 13 million people facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 150,000–200,000 had died of starvation by March 2022. In the Tigray Region alone, 89% of people are in need of food aid, with those facing severe hunger reaching up to 47%.[21][22] In a report published in June 2021, over 350,000 people were already experiencing catastrophic famine conditions (IPC Phase 5).[23][24] It is the worst famine to happen in East Africa since 2011–2012.[24]

The main reasons for the famine are the Tigray War, which caused mass displacement and loss of harvests, in addition to then-ongoing locust infestations in the region. As reported by The Economist, the federal Ethiopian government was "deliberately holding back food in an effort to starve" the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF);[25] a claim disputed by the Ethiopian government in late January.[25] On 10 February 2021, Abera Tola, head of Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), described displaced people "reach[ing] camps in Tigrayan towns [being] 'emaciated'" and that "their skin [was] really on their bones." He estimated that "eighty percent" of Tigray was unreachable by humanitarian assistance.[26] In early February 2021, Muferiat Kamil, Ethiopian Minister of Peace, agreed with World Food Programme representatives to allow increased food distribution in Tigray Region.[26] While the situation improved after the March 2022 truce and allowed for humanitarian distribution of food, the lack of rain in the spring of 2022 compounded the already existing food insecurity.[27] The resurgence of fighting after the ceasefire collapsed in August 2022 exacerbated the situation even more; by October, between 400–900 a day were dying of starvation.[28]

Livestock and wildlife

Pastoralists have reported much of their livestock perishing in the drought. In 2021, half of the lifestock of men in the town of Kargi, Kenya was reported to have died,[29] with 2.4 million livestock perishing in the entirety of Kenya.[17]

Furthermore, the deaths of

were reported between September 2021 to 2022 May by the Kenyan Wildlife Service in the Amboseli, Tsavo and Laikipia-Samburu areas.[30]

See also

References
  1. Stefan Ellerbeck (21 July 2022). "The Horn of Africa is facing an unprecedented drought. What is the world doing to help solve it?". Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  2. OCHA (24 August 2022). "Horn of Africa Drought: Regional Humanitarian Overview & Call to Action (Revised 24 August 2022)".
  3. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/horn-africa-drought-regional-humanitarian-overview-call-action-revised-26-may-2023
  4. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/horn-africa-drought-regional-humanitarian-overview-call-action-revised-26-may-2023
  5. Matthias Williams and Jason Neely. (31 May 2022). "Drought threatens starvation in Horn of Africa, U.N., agencies say". Reuters website Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  6. Cassidy, Emily (13 December 2022). "Worst Drought on Record Parches Horn of Africa".
  7. "Report: 43,000 estimated dead in Somalia drought last year". AP NEWS. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  8. "Somalia drought may have killed 43,000 in 2022, half under 5: UN". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  9. africanews (5 September 2022). "Horn of Africa Faces Another Failed Rainy Season".
  10. Mishra, Donald Prakash. "The Horn of Africa Faces Deepening Crisis".
  11. Oxfam Int. (25 May 2022). "Drought in East Africa: "If the rains do not come, none of us will survive"".
  12. Joint alert by meteorological agencies and humanitarian partners. (30 May 2022). "The Threat of Starvation looms in East Africa after four failed rainy seasons." footnote 2. ReliefWeb website Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  13. Rescue.org. "Crisis in Somalia: Catastrophic hunger amid drought and conflict".
  14. "IRC: 43,000 feared dead as drought continues to ravage Somalia | International Rescue Committee (IRC)". www.rescue.org. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  15. Smith, Georgina. "'Heading into the worst': How drought drives conflict in Kenya". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  16. "Kenya Drought Violence". S&P Global. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  17. "Severe drought to leave over 5M Kenyans hungry in March–June". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  18. Malesi, Tony. "Climate cover: $140 million insurance scheme in Kenya to protect herders against frequent droughts". www.downtoearth.org.in. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  19. "Ethiopia | Hunger Crisis - Emergency Appeal №: MDRET027". Reliefweb. International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies. 30 March 2022.
  20. "UNICEF Ethiopia Humanitarian Situation Report No. 9 - September 2022". ReliefWeb. UNICEF. 29 October 2022. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022.
  21. Paravicini, Giulia (20 August 2022). "Nearly half the people in Ethiopia's Tigray in 'severe' need of food aid, World Food Programme says". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022.
  22. "Tigray war has seen up to half a million dead from violence and starvation, say researchers". The Globe and Mail. 14 March 2022.
  23. "5.5 Million People in Tigray and Neighbouring Zones of Afar and Amhara Face High Levels of Acute Food Insecurity" (PDF). Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. June 2021.
  24. "350,000 people in famine conditions in Ethiopia's Tigray". Al Jazeera. 10 June 2021.
  25. "After two months of war, Tigray faces starvation – Ethiopia's government appears to be blocking food deliveries to the region". The Economist. 23 January 2021. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  26. "Ethiopian Red Cross says 80 percent of Tigray cut off from aid". France 24. AFP. 10 February 2021. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  27. "Ethiopia Food Security Outlook June 2022 to January 2023 - Ethiopia". reliefweb.int.
  28. "SITUATION REPORT - HORN OF AFRICA No. 295- 21 October 2022" (PDF). EuropeExternal Programme with Africa. 28 October 2022.
  29. Obi Anyadike (16 November 2021). "For Kenya's pastoralists, COP26 promises come too little, too late". The New Humanitarian.
  30. France24 (5 November 2022). "Hundreds of animals die in Kenyan wildlife preserves amid region's worst drought in decades".
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