Global IssuesEast Africa Food Crisis 2011
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Introduction
Into mid-2011, the world’s worst food crisis is being felt in East Africa, in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
Despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made. This is because the situation had been predicted many months before by an international early warning system. Both the international community and governments in the region have been accused of doing very little in the lead up to this crisis. In addition, high food prices have forced food out of the reach of many people, while conflict in Somalia has exacerbated the situation.
As the international organization Oxfam describes: 12 million people are in dire need of food, clean water, and basic sanitation. Loss of life on a massive scale is a very real risk, and the crisis is set to worsen over the coming months, particularly for pastoralist communities.
Early warning systems had predicted this months earlier
As Inter Press Service (IPS) reported, despite the conflicts in the region,
The world had an opportunity to save thousands of lives that are being lost in parts of Somalia due to the famine, if only the donor community had paid attention to the early warning systems that predicted it eight months ago.
…
There has been a catastrophic breakdown of the world's collective responsibility to act. 3,500 people a day are fleeing Somalia and arriving in parts of Ethiopia and Kenya that are suffering one of the driest years in six decades. Food, water and emergency aid are desperately needed. By the time the U.N. calls it a famine it is already a signal of large scale loss of life,Oxfam said.
Knowing about these things in advance is significant in terms of lives, costs and preparedness. The US government agency USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network had predicted the crisis in November 2010, noting that
food security outcomes are likely to worsen, particularly among the poorest households whose coping capacity is the most limited.
In areas at‐risk of worsening food security, households may require livelihood support to prevent asset loss, household food deficits, and negative coping. Potential interventions in pastoral areas include rehabilitation of water points (boreholes), increased veterinary services targeting the dry season grazing areas, commercial off‐take programs, and nutrition support programs targeting poorer households. In the cropping southwest marginal areas of Kenya, and in Rwanda and Burundi, the scale‐up of resource transfer programs may be required to minimize the food security impacts of the La Niña event [that was observed at the end of 2010].
Massive funding shortfall — assuming anyone cares
As international humanitarian and development organization Oxfam explained, many (often simple) preventative actions could have been taken, assuming funds were available earlier:
Whenever there is an indicator of such a disaster, we must not only sit and wait for the emergency response. We can conveniently invest the funds by putting irrigation systems in place, vaccinating people, especially children, against anticipated diseases, and creating proper infrastructure to be used in case there is need for food supply,said [Anna Ridout, Oxfam’s spokesperson]
But, as Oxfam notes in another article, donors and governments fail to deliver on East Africa aid effort:
The overall humanitarian requirements for the region this year, according to the UN appeals, are $1.87 billion. These are so far 45 percent funded, leaving a gap of over $1 billion still remaining: gaps of $332m and $296m for the Kenya and Somalia UN appeals respectively, and $398m for the government-run appeal in Ethiopia
In the last two weeks there have been new pledges of $205m, leaving a gap of $800m still remaining.
The UK has pledged an estimated $145m in the past two weeks - almost 15 percent of what is needed. The EU has pledged around $8m so far, with more expected in the coming days. Spain has pledged nearly $10m, Germany around $8.5m. France has so far not pledged any new money, and Denmark and Italy have said no significant new sums are available.
But it is not just the international community. Various actors in the region also face criticism and question. For example, as the above IPS article had also noted, the effects of the drought were made worse by the Al Shabaab militia group in Somalia, which had blocked donor agencies from operating within its territories in 2009 — now the famine zones. Admittedly, the extremist group recently lifted its ban, as IPS also noted.
Another example is the governments of the affected countries as well as the African Union. Ugandan journalist, Rosebell Kagumire, writing for Oxfam, noted that the African Union had complained about lack of funds because governments have not put enough money in. Although Kenya opened its borders for an influx of Somalian refugees, Kagumire criticized the response as lacking urgency and not being effective.
One of the worst crises in recent history
The crisis is one of the worst in recent history:
Compared to previous famines, the current situation in Somalia compares or exceeds those reported during recent years in Niger (2005), Ethiopia (2001), Sudan (1998) and Somalia (1992). However, this is the most severe food security crisis in Africa since the 1991/92 Somalia famine, according to the U.N. Between January and June this year, 300,000 people in Mogadishu were given food assistance by humanitarian agencies on a monthly basis. Approximately 100,000 malnourished children were treated through some 418 nutrition centres in south Somalia from January to May 2011.
…
The current crisis in Somalia is expected to have an increasingly devastating effect on other countries in the region. However, generally, the Horn of Africa has 11.5 million people in crisis, including the 3.7 million in Somalia.
Media coverage
Somewhat predictably, media coverage seems spotty. At times there are detailed reports, often responding to government and other large international agency pushes to address the crises. Other times, the coverage vanishes from mainstream headlines and prime time viewing almost as soon as reporting has started.
On the morning of Sunday, July 31, during a review of British Sunday newspapers by the BBC, commentators noted how only one paper had a front page story about this crisis while almost all of them had something about a second Royal wedding. (It wasn’t necessarily ignoring Africa, either, as the also important story about the US debt crisis also barely featured on any papers headlines!)
And of course, most of the reporting has followed after the crisis has happened.
It is also interesting to note how quickly the international community
mobilized against Libya with military and other actions, when far less people (in number) were affected.
More information
For more about the issues from other organizations, here are some starting points:
- Detailed information from UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- Coverage from UN’s refugee agency
- Coverage from UNICEF
- Coverage from Oxfam, including a report on key recommendations for local governments and the international community.
- News coverage from allAfrica.com
News stories from IPS
Below is a list of stories from Inter Press Service as they cover this event. Revisit this page frequently to see newer stories as the crisis unfolds:
UN and partners seek $7 billion to prevent catastrophe in the Horn of Africa
- UN News
With “crisis atop of crisis” threatening millions in the Horn of Africa, the international community cannot afford to stand idly by, Secretary-General António Guterres said at a pledging event to raise $7 billion for the region, held at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
Horn of Africa: Over 7 million children under the age of 5 remain malnourished
- UN News
Children in the Horn of Africa are living through an unprecedented large-scale crisis of hunger, displacement, water scarcity, and insecurity, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.
Horn of Africa hunger emergency: ‘129,000 looking death in the eyes’
- UN News
Refugee agency appeals for $137 million to help displaced in Horn of Africa
- UN News
Lifesaving aid is needed urgently to help millions of people enduring one of the longest and most severe droughts on record in the Horn of Africa, the UN refugee agency, UNHCRsaid on Tuesday, as the region enters its sixth consecutive rainy season with no rain.
Horn of Africa: $84 million appeal to support migrants along risky route to Yemen
- UN News
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and partners are seeking $84 million to provide humanitarian and development assistance to over one million migrants in the Horn of Africa and communities hosting them.
In drought-stricken Cabo Verde, UN chief finds hope for creating sustainable oasis
- UN News
The Secretary-General spent Sunday travelling through the diverse and varied landscapes of Santo Antão, where, after five years of intense drought, several development projects supported by the United Nations are helping to transform the agricultural sector of this westernmost island of Cabo Verde.
Kenya: Severe drought fuels malnutrition, reduces hospital-delivery births in Turkana County
- UN News
Following four successive failed rainy seasons, Kenya is amid the worst drought in 40 years, the UN’s women’s health agency, UNFPA, said on Tuesday, shining a light on 134,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women who are reported to be acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
War, Famine, Disease, Disasters – 2022 – a Year Staring at Apocalypse
- Inter Press Service
TORONTO, Canada, Dec 23 (IPS) - A year that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is ending with famine in Africa, while still spreading death and misery through an enduring pandemic and a deteriorating climate crisis -- 2022 has been an apocalyptic warning of the frailty of our planet and the woeful shortcomings of humankind.
Horn of Africa faces most severe drought in more than two generations – UNICEF
- UN News
The number of children suffering from dire drought conditions across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has more than doubled in five months, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.
Somalia: Urgent support needed for rural communities facing famine
- UN News
Famine is fast approaching in Somalia and more than 700,000 people could face starvation next year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Tuesday, citing the latest Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) analysis.
Somalia: Famine narrowly averted – so far, warn UN humanitarians
- UN News
In Somalia, a full-blown famine has been narrowly averted for now, but the hunger emergency has not gone away, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
No time to waste, as Haiti famine risk rises, warns UN emergency food aid agency
- UN News
With armed gangs in charge of key transport routes in Haiti, the country could see famine conditions, unless a robust humanitarian aid plan is put in place, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, has warned.
Drought, conflict force 80,000 Somalis to shelter in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps
- UN News
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in recent weeks at Kenya’s Dadaab camps, forced from their homes by extremist violence in neighbouring Somalia and an “unrelenting” drought, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
‘We cannot give up’ on the millions suffering in drought-stricken Horn of Africa, urges WFP official
- UN News
Millions of people in the Horn of Africa – a region at the intersection of some of the worst impacts of climate change, recurring humanitarian crises and insecurity – are facing the driest conditions in four decades along with extreme food shortages. The top UN World Food Programme (WFP) official in the region, Michael Dunford, is warning that the situation there is likely to get worse before it improves.
Pan-African Approach to Tackle Food Insecurity Arising from Conflict and Climate Shocks
- Inter Press Service
Nairobi, Nov 22 (IPS) - Upheaval on the global stage, the war in Ukraine, conflict in the Horn of Africa, severe climatic shocks, high international inflation, increasing global commodity prices, high prices of agricultural inputs and low intra-continental trade are fuelling food insecurity across Africa.
Horn of Africa: UNFPA launches $113 million appeal for drought-impacted women and girls
- UN News
The unprecedented drought in the Horn of Africa is affecting whole communities, but it is women and girls who are paying “an unacceptably high price”, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Wednesday, launching a $113.7 million appeal to meet their needs.
Humanitarians call for greater support to prevent famine in Horn of Africa
- UN News
Greater global solidarity is needed to address the rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa, where millions are going hungry due to two years of unprecedented drought, UN agencies and partners said in a statement on Monday.
Tackling Recurring Hunger Crises at the Horn of Africa - Beginning with Somalia
- Inter Press Service
URBANA, Illinois, USA, Nov 02 (IPS) - The statistics are stark. The crisis is unprecedented. Yet again, according to the United Nations, famine looms in Somalia, with hundreds of thousands already facing starvation. In addition, droughts, and catastrophic hunger levels have left over 500,000 children malnourished and at risk of dying. This is already nearly 200,000 more than the 2011 famine. Urgent immediate actions must be taken now, both to address the crisis in the short-term and long-term.
Droughts Dont Need To Result in Famine: Ethiopia and Somalia Show What Makes theDifference
- Inter Press Service
Oct 28 (IPS) - The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Scientists suspect that a multi-year La Niña cycle has been amplified by climate change to prolong dry and hot conditions.
Kenya: UN steps up protection for drought-hit women and girls
- UN News
Women and girls are bearing the brunt of the worst drought experienced in Kenya for 40 years, which is exacerbating the risk of sexual exploitation, violence, and abuse.
Energy Transition: Is it Time for Africa to Talk Tough?
- Inter Press Service
Kampala, Oct 05 (IPS) - Thirty-year-old Difasi Amooti Kisembo is one of the demonstrators near the EU delegation offices in Kampala. He and a handful of others have traveled from Uganda’s oil and gas-rich Albertine region’s district to Uganda’s capital Kampala to express their displeasure with an EU Parliament’s resolution against the planned construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Lives Hang in the Balance as Kenyas ASAL Region Ravaged by Severe Prolonged Drought
- Inter Press Service
Nairobi, Oct 04 (IPS) - The sight of children begging for water from motorists along the Garissa highway in the northeastern part of Kenya signals that all is not well. Unable to go to school on an empty stomach, drought-affected children wait for good Samaritans along the road, begging for water and food.
Somalia committed to tackling twin threats of looming famine and terrorism, President tells UN Assembly
- UN News
Despite efforts to move past decades of drought and conflict, Somalia is facing some of the most complex crises in the world, its President said today at the UN General Assembly, urging international partners to help the nation avert a looming famine and defeat the scourge of terrorism.
Famine looms in Somalia, but many ‘hunger hotspots’ are in deep trouble
- UN News
The number of people facing life-threatening levels of hunger worldwide without immediate humanitarian aid, is expected to rise steeply in coming weeks, the UN said on Wednesday, in a new alert about looming famine in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
‘Tsunami of hunger’ could trigger multiple famines, Security Council warned
- UN News
As risks of conflict-induced famine and widespread food insecurity continue to rise, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator urged the Security Council on Thursday to address the interlinked crises, and work towards establishing lasting peace in affected regions.
WMO: Climate change in Africa can destabilize ‘countries and entire regions’
- UN News
Water stress and hazards like withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard, according to a new report launched on Thursday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Somalia: UN’s top humanitarian forum warns of ‘tipping point’ as famine risk rises
- UN News
Somalia is at a “tipping point”, with hundreds of thousands of people at immediate risk of famine, the heads of the UN’s highest-level humanitarian coordination forum have warned.
WMO: Greater Horn of Africa drought forecast to continue for fifth year
- UN News
As millions of people in the Greater Horn of Africa have already “suffered the longest drought in 40 years,” parts of the region are bracing for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported.
Drought, hunger and fighting leave Ethiopia in ‘very difficult humanitarian situation’
- UN News
Amidst deteriorating levels of malnutrition and Ethiopia’s worst drought in 40 years, 17 million people are being targeted for humanitarian assistance, the UN spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Africa drought: Some children just ‘one disease away from catastrophe’ UNICEF warns
- UN News
On Tuesday, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF warned that children in the Horn of Africa and the vast Sahel region “could die in devastating numbers” without urgent intervention and support. In the last five months, the number of people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia without reliable access to safe water, has risen from 9.5 million to 16.2 million
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