Abandoned houses, dead animals and deserted fields, this is how the general scene looks in different parts of Somalia, which is facing a serious drought and famine that has caused the death of hundreds and the displacement of thousands of their villages in rural and urban areas in search of water and food.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud sounded the alarm about the humanitarian situation in his country, noting that "it is getting worse day after day, and it is developing into the situation we were warning about, which is famine, as people die of starvation in some Somali regions," calling on the international community to join efforts And to provide aid to those affected, before the situation turns to the "worst humanitarian situation."
Millions of Somalis face the specter of starvation and death with the succession of severe drought seasons, in addition to political and economic turmoil locally and globally, in the face of the continuing effects of the Corona pandemic and the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which resulted in a significant increase in prices and a lack of funding for basic materials, in return for the failure of humanitarian aid to meet the needs growing.
The situation is not better in the countries neighboring Somalia, as the World Health Organization warned Tuesday, August 2, that the Greater Horn of Africa is witnessing one of the worst famines in the past seventy years, revealing that “more than 37 million people face acute hunger, and about seven suffer from Millions of children under the age of five are severely malnourished. This is despite international efforts that are trying to alleviate these crises around the world, the latest of which was the signing of the "Wheat Agreement" in Istanbul under the auspices of the United Nations, according to which wheat is allowed to be exported from Russia and Ukraine, which was halted due to the war.
Health and immigration challenges
Various international organizations unanimously agree that a serious crisis threatens the lives of millions in the Horn of Africa, which includes the countries of Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, with the sharp decline of water resources, increased food insecurity, and high waves of human displacement, and the health and security challenges it poses.
In this context, the United Nations World Health Organization revealed that the risks of famine and malnutrition will cause massive migrations to reach water, pastures and other vital services, which will lead to increased infection and outbreaks of diseases such as acute watery diarrhea and cholera, in addition to pressure on the meager resources that remain.
The World Health Organization called on the international community to allocate more than $120 million to respond to the growing health needs and prevent the food crisis from turning into a health crisis, stressing the urgency of urgent intervention to avoid preventable diseases and deaths.
And the World Health Organization revealed that it is allocating “$16.5 million from its Emergency Reserve Fund to ensure that people in the region have access to health services, treat sick children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and prevent, detect and respond to infectious diseases.”
However, this number remains insufficient. "The situation is already catastrophic, and we need to act now. We cannot continue with this funding shortfall," says Ibrahim Soci Vall, Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response at WHO.
The drought and undernourishment crises also resulted in large waves of migration, according to UNHCR spokeswoman Chebiya Mantou, who revealed during a press conference in late June, that as the crisis worsened, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes in search of life-saving aid. She pointed out that since the end of last year, more than 800,000 people have been internally displaced in Somalia, and nearly 16,000 have crossed the border into Ethiopia, and these numbers are expected to rise over the next few months.
These huge numbers of displacement and migration in the Horn of Africa justify the World Bank’s warnings about the effects of climate change in the countries of the South.” Early this year, it was expected that the rates of migration and asylum would increase in these areas due to the problems of drought, undernutrition and scarcity of water resources.
cross-border problems
The famine crisis in the Horn of Africa and its dangerous repercussions at various levels will create new challenges for the countries of the region that have been experiencing deep political and security turmoil in recent years, with the continuation of piracy on the coasts of the Gulf of Aden, the renewal of armed conflict in Darfur and with it the civil war in South Sudan, in addition to tensions The ethnicity that Ethiopia suffers from, in addition to the obsession of terrorist groups spread in this geographical space.
African affairs expert, Abdel Wahed Awlad Mouloud, confirms in a statement to TRT Arabic that "the obsession with ensuring food security exacerbates the difficult conditions facing the countries of the Horn of Africa after decades of political, security and even health instability, with successive seasons of drought, diseases and epidemics, which were these regions of the continent." Africans are most vulnerable to it.
The Moroccan expert added that the economic crises is another aspect of the difficulties facing these countries that have suffered and suffer from economic backwardness, and the accumulation of debts that caused their economic dependence on other countries, noting that the support of international organizations and their efforts to support development in the region have not succeeded in removing most of the Horn of Africa countries from its crises.
The researcher in international relations warned that the factors of food insecurity and the risks of famine “will inevitably lead to an exacerbation of political turmoil, which in turn will produce an imbalance in the global security balance, especially with the high levels of migration and asylum,” and considered that these dangerous consequences will extend beyond the Horn of Africa to the region. The Sahel and Sahara, which in turn are witnessing political crises and the spread of terrorist groups,” noting that other countries of the world will not be isolated from the spark of these changes.
In the face of these developments, Awlad Mouloud stressed in his statement to TRT Arabi, "the need for urgent intervention to confront this humanitarian crisis that threatens the lives of millions, by allocating subsidies and financial resources and providing the necessary health and food relief for the benefit of the concerned countries to save lives and avoid a worsening of the situation in the region."
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AFRICA-AUSTRALIA UPDATE