In 2006, an acute shortage of food affected the countries in theHorn of Africa (Somalia,Djibouti andEthiopia), as well asnortheastern Kenya. TheUnited Nations'sFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated on January 6, 2006, that more than 11 million people in these countries may be affected by an impending widespreadfamine, largely attributed to a severedrought, and exacerbated by military conflicts in the region.[1]
Drought is a predictable event in the Horn of Africa, and when combined with other factors it causes conflict and terrible human misery.[2] Previous droughts in 1983–85, 1991–92 and 1998–99 swiftly reversed gradual increase in livestock and caused losses in the cattle population of up to 62%.[2] These conditions ofdrought, together with other factors including high cereal prices, overpopulation in the region, abandoning traditionalrangeland management methods and conflict, are leading to conditions offamine.[2] In the present 2006 drought, claims about factors transforming drought into famine include a ban on livestock imports to markets in thePersian Gulf States, which has reduced the income of livestock-dependent farmers, further increasingfood insecurity.[3]
The population in East Africa had increased rapidly in the decades before the food crisis. From 67 million in 1950 to 306 million in 2006.[4]
Djibouti was a severely drought affected; theFAO estimated that about one third of the population (400 000 people) needed food aid.[1]
The FAO estimated that more than one million people[1] in theSomali Region ofEthiopia were facing severe food shortages. Although crops are currently being harvested, shortages are still expected to occur in the country's south-east.
Crop failure, drought and depleted livestock herds led to famine conditions in theCushitic-inhabited northern and eastern pastoral districts ofMandera,Wajir, andMarsabit.[5][6] As of January 6, 2006, approximately 30 deaths were reported. Some 2.5 million people (10% of the population)[1] required food aid over the next six months, which led the Kenyan PresidentMwai Kibaki to declare a national disaster.[7]
Somalia was the least affected out of the four countries. About two million people in the country's southern pastoral regions required humanitarian assistance.[1] The prolonged absence of a strong central government and poor transportation infrastructure also posed problems for the distribution of food aid.[8]
In February 2006,UNICEF warned that 1.5 million children under the age of five were being threatened by the drought and called for $16 million USD to help fund its relief efforts in the region.[9]