PRESS RELEASE

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Famine Threatens 17 Million People Living in the Horn of Africa

March 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has issued an urgent appeal for humanitarian aid to save 17 million people in the Horn of Africa facing a deadly famine. Somalia, along with Djibouti, Eritria, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, are on the brink of imminent famine, and almost half of Somalia’s 6 million people need immediate help, Malaysia’s Bernama news agency reported. On March 7,

"Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres arrived in Somalia and appealed for $825 million in aid to address drought and cholera in the East Africa nation on the brink of famine,"

the New York Times reported. Earlier, Guterres had issued a similar appeal pointing out that famine was underway in part of South Sudan, and warned that people in areas away from the Horn of Africa, such as Nigeria and Yemen, were also at risk of dying from hunger.

Somalia had suffered two consecutive years of drought, and the New York Times reported meteorologists expect crops to fail again this year. In the 2011 famine, Somalia lost 260,000 people in a period of two months. The OIC pointed out that

"more than 110 persons have died in Somalia in the last two days from cholera and famine caused by continuous drought, as announced by Prime Minister Hassan Ali in Mogadishu on March 4,"

Bernama reported.

"It should be noted that Somalia is one of the four countries categorized as being close to facing serious famine, alongside Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen, where over 20 million people face horrific conditions, thus requiring urgent action to avoid the spread of famine to wider areas,"

said the OIC.