Photo: The Herald
Dar es Salaam —
Over 17 million people in the Horn of Africa face food crisis, according
to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (Fao).
Those people are
from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and
Uganda, the according to the agency, attributing the situation to
widespread drought in the Horn of Africa due to few rains between
October and December.
Areas of greatest
concern cover much of Somalia, north-east and coastal Kenya, south-east
of Ethiopia as well as the Afar region which is yet to recover from El
Nino induced drought of 2015/16.
According to a
statement posted on Fao website, close to 12 million people across
Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are in need of food assistance, as families
face limited access to food and income, together with rising debt, low
cereal and seed stocks, and low milk and meat production.
In the statement, Fao warned that if a response was not immediate and sufficient, the risks will be massive and will cost a lot.
"The magnitude of
the situation calls for scaled up action and coordination at national
and regional levels. This is, above all, a livelihoods and humanitarian
emergency - and the time to act is now," said Fao Deputy
Director-General for Climate and Natural Resources, Ms Maria Helena
Semedo.
Ms Semedo was
speaking on behalf of the Fao Director-General at a High-Level Panel on
Humanitarian Situation in the Horn of Africa chaired by the United
Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, on the sidelines of the
28th AU Summit in Addis Ababa.
Although Tanzania
is not in the list, scores of regional government officials have
signalled stress arising from drought and death of livestock in their
areas.
However, President
John Magufuli and his entire government has denied reports of famine
threat and stressed that there will be no food relief to anyone.
Recently, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the country wasn't facing a
famine threat and reassured the public that there was enough food
despite reported drought in some parts of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment