Først udsendte FN-systemet alarm for 20 millioner potentielle hungerramte i Sahel i Vestafrika, derpå kom advarslen om truende massesult i det konfliktramte Sydsudan, og nu dukker et gammelt spøgelse frem igen: Massehunger i Somalia på Afrikas Horn.
ROME, 8 August 2014 (UN News Service): A United Nations human rights expert Friday urged the international community to “act now” to avert a humanitarian disaster in Somalia, where a widening hunger crisis has sparked fears of a repeat of the 2011 famine that devastated the war-ravaged country.
“The food shortage situation in Somalia is deteriorating rapidly,” warned Bahame Tom Nyanduga, a UN independent expert on the situation of human rights in the East African nation.
203.000 voldsomt underernærede småbørn
As it stands now, around 203,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished while about 2.9 million people need urgent life-saving support a situation which is likely to worsen.
“An ongoing conflict, lower than usual rains in the agricultural parts of the country, the hiking of food prices, and the limited access by humanitarian agencies to deliver much needed assistance in some parts of the country due to the conflict, are pushing Somalia closer and closer to an impending worrisome food insecurity and malnutrition situation,” Mr. Nyanduga explained.
Spøgelset fra 2011
Indeed, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) reports that the food security situation in Somalia is expected to deteriorate in the months ahead due to reduced crop production resulting from poor seasonal rains, a surge in prices and reduced livestock production.
Somalia’s Government has already declared drought in seven regions and warns that, if urgent measures are not taken there would be a repeat of the 2011 famine, when more than 250,000 people died, half of them children.
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Begynd fra: “Another famine would have devastating consequences on….”
