U.N: Drought and insecurity threaten East Africa with famine

The United Nations World Food Program said that there is a “very real risk of famine” in East Africa, where drought has increased in the region due to lack of rain for three consecutive seasons and we are approaching the fourth.
“The number of people affected by the drought was estimated at 13 to 14 million people, but this number has since increased to between 15 and 16 million people”, Michael Dunford, Regional Director of the World Food Program for East Africa, told reporters in Nairobi. He stressed that if the rains are absent again this year, the number may rise to 20 million.
The Integrated Security Phase Group had announced its latest findings, which indicate that nearly 6 million people in Somalia alone have been affected so far, 1.4 million of them are already in emergency conditions, and another 81,000 people are considered in the Fifth Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which is considered to be catastrophic or famine-like conditions.
This drought is occurring as the level of food insecurity across the region increases dramatically, Dunford said. The World Food Program has estimated that around 81 million people across East Africa are food insecure, representing a 60 percent increase since 2021. The reasons for this are a combination of ongoing conflicts and climate impacts, the WFP official said. Including drought, floods, and the effects of COVID-19 and rising food costs, particularly as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.