The crisis is the deadliest in Somalia since the famine of 2010-11, which claimed 260,000 lives
rains in Somalia failed in 2021. Then they failed again and again and again and again. For five wet seasons in a row, Somalis looked anxiously to the skies while their crops withered, their cattle perished and many people died of hunger or disease. A new report, released byagencies and the Somali government, estimates that there were 43,000 “excess deaths” in the country last year, relative to the typical level. Half of the dead were children under the age of five.
The drought is the worst in the region for 40 years. Its barren shadow stretches beyond Somalia and into Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, where millions more go hungry. Dry spells in the Horn of Africa are linked to La Niña, a temporary cooling in the Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns worldwide, and which is only now relenting after three stubborn years. Its impacts may have been amplified by climate change, although the people of Somalia can hardly be blamed for that.
The second challenge is insecurity. Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate, controls much of the countryside. Since August the Somali army and clan militias have pushed it out of some central parts of the country. But the jihadists are entrenched in their southern heartlands, where hunger is severe. Aid workers fear being kidnapped or killed. One recent study finds that violent incidents along transport routes can increase food prices as far as 900km away.
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