Horn of Africa Drought Trends Said Worse Than in 2011 Famine

AP

14:16 JST, March 1, 2023

NAIROBI (AP) — Trends in a historic Horn of Africa drought are now worse than they were during the 2011 drought in which at least a quarter-million people died, a climate center said Feb. 22.

The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center said below-normal rainfall is expected in the rainy season over the next two months.

“This could be the sixth failed consecutive rainfall season” in the region that includes Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, the center said.

The drought, the longest on record in Somalia, has lasted almost three years, and tens of thousands of people are said to have died. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Somalia alone, according to the United Nations.

In January, the U.N. resident coordinator in Somalia warned that excess deaths in Somalia will “almost certainly” surpass those of the famine declared in the country in 2011.