Millions starving in Kenya after severe drought
Pastor Dale Morgan
Millions starving in Kenya after severe drought*
U.N. appeals for aid to East Africa as herders' livestock perish
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 Posted: 1359 GMT (2159 HKT)
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Millions of Kenyan herders still need food
aid after a severe drought this year almost wiped out their herds, the
U.N. World Food Program said on Wednesday, appealing for $90 million to
feed them.
Failed rains late in 2005 and early this year in several East African
countries left 11 million people facing starvation. Tens of thousands of
livestock and several hundred people died from hunger and thirst.
Despite long rains from April to June, many countries in the region are
still suffering from the effects of the drought. Uganda and Tanzania
suffer daily power outages, some as long as 24 hours, as water levels in
their hydroelectric dams fall below operational levels.
WFP said the April-June rains over arid areas of northern Kenya had been
erratic and insufficient to revive herds and warned it had no cereals to
distribute in September.
"We urgently need donors to step forward and help millions of
pastoralists still struggling to recover from recurrent drought," said
WFP's Country Director for Kenya Tesema Negash.
"The rains didn't end the misery of those who lost all their assets,
their livestock, or who don't have enough surviving animals to support
themselves," Negash said in a statement.
WFP said malnutrition levels in children were already unacceptably high
and it had been forced to cut vegetable oil rations in March and April
due to low contributions.
WFP is feeding 3.6 million people in Kenya, the statement said, adding
that aid agencies were trucking water to herders as water sources were
contaminated with livestock carcasses.