Source: CARE
Date: 17 Apr 2008

Geneva, April 17, 2008 - An estimated 14 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing a food emergency just two years following the worst drought in decades, CARE International warned today. Without significant rain this month, millions of people, already left devastated and vulnerable by the 2006 emergency, risk further loss of their livelihoods and possible starvation as water and pasture rapidly diminish.

Parts of Somalia are already facing an emergency and CARE staff report widespread and acute shortages of food and water. In Kenya and Ethiopia, despite recent rains in places, CARE staff is witnessing high levels of vulnerability with livestock dying due to lack of water and grazing, dramatic rises in the price of food and water and children dropping out of school to help find food.

'A lot depends on the next four weeks,' said Steve Wallace, CARE's Regional Director for East and Central Africa. 'Already in some areas pasture has all but disappeared and a lack of water has forced schools and health clinics to close. Without rain in the next month households that are still struggling to get back on their feet will be facing a severe food and water emergency again.'

Increases in global food prices have priced food beyond what the poor can afford at the same time that spells of drought in the Horn have become longer, as predicted by climate change experts. Conflict in both Somalia and Kenya has recently escalated. All of these factors have contributed to the poverty and vulnerability that underpin the current precarious situation.

However, according to CARE, the aid system has also contributed by failing to tackle the underlying causes of hunger that spur food emergencies. This has left people in a downward spiral, becoming increasingly susceptible as they fall in and out of crisis.

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