Horn of Africa drought likely to worsen 'The animals have all died'

Drought across Horn of Africa

* Millions of people left hungry. Many children malnourished

*UNICEF chief saw heart-wrenching things

Kenya: The plight of millions of people left hungry by a harsh drought across the Horn of Africa is set to worsen, with the rains not expected soon and harvests months away, a top UN official warned Saturday.

Scanty or failed rainfall in the region over the past two years has already forced thousands of Somalis to flee their country and ruined the livelihoods of millions in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

“We are possibly seeing a perfect storm in the coming months.... We are going to do everything we can to ameliorate it,” UNICEF director Anthony Lake told AFP as he visited Kenya’s drought-hit Turkana region. “We are scaling up in every way we can.... It is very bad now. There will be no major harvests until some time next year. The next six months are going to be very tough,” he added.

Turkana is one of Kenya’s badly affected regions where malnutrition rates have risen to 37 percent, up from 15 percent in 2010, according to the aid organisation Oxfam.

The drought has also wiped out almost all the cattle, the mainstay of Turkana people, with the remaining emaciated animals driven elsewhere in search of pasture.

Sunday, AFP