{"id":10931,"date":"2022-09-08T23:55:54","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T23:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=10931"},"modified":"2022-09-15T05:22:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T05:22:53","slug":"un-1b-is-needed-to-avert-famine-in-somalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2022\/09\/08\/un-1b-is-needed-to-avert-famine-in-somalia\/","title":{"rendered":"UN: $1billion is needed to avert famine in Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNITED NATIONS —<\/strong> The U.N. humanitarian chief predicted Tuesday that at least $1 billion will be needed urgently to avert famine in Somalia in the coming months and early next year when two more dry seasons are expected to compound the historic drought that has hit the Horn of Africa nation.<\/p>\n

Martin Griffiths said in a video briefing from Somalia\u2019s capital Mogadishu that a new report from an authoritative panel of independent experts says there will be a famine in Somalia between October and December \u201cif we don\u2019t manage to stave it off and avoid it as had been the case in 2016 and 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

The undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs told U.N. correspondents that more than $1 billion in new funds is needed in addition to the U.N. appeal of about $1.4 billion. That appeal has been \u201cvery well-funded,\u201d he said, thanks to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which announced a $476 million donation of humanitarian and development aid in July.<\/p>\n

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, created by USAID, said in a report Monday that famine is projected to emerge later this year in three areas in Somalia\u2019s southeastern Bay region without urgent humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

Up to 7.1 million people across Somalia need assistance to treat and prevent acute malnutrition and reduce the number of ongoing hunger related deaths, according to a recent analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.<\/p>\n

The Horn of Africa region has seen four straight failed rainy seasons for the first time in over 50 years, endangering an estimated 20 million people in one of the world\u2019s most impoverished and turbulent regions.<\/p>\n

Griffiths said meteorologists have predicted the likelihood of a fifth failed rainy season from October to December, and a sixth failed rainy season from January to March next year is also likely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has never happened before in Somalia,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been banging the drum and rattling the trees trying to get support internationally in terms of attention, prospects, and the possibilities and the horror of famine coming to the Horn of Africa \u2014 here in Somalia maybe first, but Ethiopia and Kenya, probably they\u2019re not far behind,\u201d Griffiths said.<\/p>\n

He said the U.N. World Food Program has recently been providing aid for up to 5.3 million Somalis, which is \u201ca lot, but it\u2019s going to get worse if famine comes.\u201d He said 98% of the aid is given through cash distributions via telephones.<\/p>\n

But many thousands are not getting help and hungry families in Somalia have been staggering for days or weeks through parched terrain in search of assistance.<\/p>\n

Griffiths said a big challenge is to get aid to people before they move from their homes, to help avoid massive displacement.<\/p>\n

Many Somalis raise livestock, which is key to their survival, but he said three million animals have died or been slaughtered because of the lack of rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinued drought, continued failure of rainy seasons, means that a generation\u2019s way of life is under threat,\u201d Griffiths said.<\/p>\n

He said the international community needs to help Somalis find an alternative way of life and making a living, which will require development funding and funding to mitigate the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n

Griffiths, a British diplomat, said the war in Ukraine has had an impact on humanitarian aid, with U.N. humanitarian appeals around the world receiving about 30% of the money needed on average.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those countries, which are traditionally very generous, my own included, and many others,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease don\u2019t forget Somalia. You didn\u2019t in the past. You contributed wonderfully in the past. Please do so now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: AP + HOL\u00a0 \u00a0 Origin: View original<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian chief predicted Tuesday that at least $1 billion will be needed urgently to avert famine in Somalia in the coming months and early next year when two more dry seasons are expected to compound the historic drought that has hit the Horn of Africa nation. Martin Griffiths said in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-food-security-cluster","category-news","category-relief"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10940,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10931\/revisions\/10940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}