NAIROBI, Kenya — Failed seasonal rains across East Africa will drive millions of people to hunger and poverty unless swift action is taken, an aid group said today.
Oxfam said some areas had received less than 5 percent of the normal November rains and that many people are malnourished in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It is the sixth failed rainy season for war-ravaged Somalia and the worst drought there for 20 years, the group said.
The report says cattle prices have tumbled from $200 to $4 in some areas as families try to sell dying animals to buy food. One clinic in Tanzania has reported a 400 percent increase in malnutrition cases since August, the agency said, and in Kenya a fatal outbreak of cholera killed more than 120 people in the past month.
In Uganda’s Karamoja region, the price of staple foods has doubled.
“More must be done to invest in helping these communities cope with the dry years — through long term rural development and investing in national agriculture. But in the short-term lives are at stake and emergency aid is needed now,” said Jeremy Loveless, Oxfam’s deputy humanitarian director.
The European Commission announced Thursday that it would immediately release an extra $75 million to fund emergency relief for drought-stricken areas of East Africa. It estimates 16 million people will need aid in the coming months.
“Large parts of the Horn have had less than 75 percent of normal rainfall this year, having already endured a series of severe droughts. The population can no longer cope with such extreme and protracted hardship which often comes on top of conflict situations,” said Karel De Gucht, the EU’s development commissioner.
“We face a disastrous situation in the Horn of Africa that demonstrates the terrible potential of climate change. This crisis, which is happening now, underlines why it is so important to reach an agreement in Copenhagen,” he said.
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