Millions of African Climate Refugees Desperate for Food, Water

Forced from their homes by drought, these refugees are seeking aid at the Dadaab camp. (Photo courtesy UNHCR)

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 6, 2011 (ENS) -The worst drought in 60 years is causing a severe food crisis in East Africa. In Kenya, the world's largest refugee camp is overwhelmed as 10,000 climate refugees from across the drought-stricken region arrive each week seeking water, food and shelter.

"The overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp in Garissa continues to receive new arrivals at alarming rates. The current number of registered refugees, 353,921, is four times its capacity," the UN's humanitarian affairs agency said Thursday. "Twenty thousand people have arrived in the last two weeks alone."

The influx of Somalis into refugee camps in the Dadaab area of Kenya's North-Eastern province has led to worsening overcrowding amid limited resources.

The epicenter of the drought has hit the poorest people in the region in an area straddling the borders of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, estimates that 10 million people across the Horn of Africa are caught in a deadly combination of failed rains and soaring global food prices.

More than half of the refugees are children. Child malnutrition rates in some areas have climbed to twice the emergency threshold amid high food prices that have left families desperate, the agency says. Supplementary and therapeutic feeding programs are struggling to keep pace with the rising needs.

The drought has forced children out of school as both human and livestock diseases spread. Competition for the meagre resources is causing tensions among communities.

The Kenyan government has declared the drought situation a national disaster, with malnutrition mortality rates in northern Kenya exceeding emergency thresholds.

Drought-related displacement and refugee flows are on the rise, with an average of 15,000 Somalis arriving in Kenya and Ethiopia every month this year seeking help.

"While conflict has been a fact of life for them for years, it is the drought that has taken them to breaking point. Many have walked for days, are exhausted, in poor health, desperate for food and water, and arriving in a worse condition than usual," OCHA said in its latest update on the drought situation in the region.

In Ethiopia, the consumer price index for food increased by almost 41 percent last month.

The price of grain in drought-affected areas of Kenya is 30 to 80 percent more than the five-year average.

At least four million bags of maize, or corn, must be imported to avert a massive shortage, the government of Kenya said today. The "Daily Nation" newspaper reports that the country has only about 8.5 million bags on hand, about a two-month supply.

Meanwhile, a dispute has broken out among Kenyan lawmakers about allowing genetically modified crops into the country. A legal notice allowing the importation of GM crops was issued Friday.

Today, the House committee on Agriculture warned that opening up the country to genetically modified products would endanger lives. Committee Chairman John Mututho said the country lacks the technical capacity to assess the quantity and type of genes in imported products.

Further food price hikes area expected in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia, but could ease after the next harvests expected later this year.

"Thousands of children could starve if we don't get life-saving help to them fast," said Matt Croucher, Save the Children's regional emergency manager for East Africa. "Parents no longer have any way to feed their children; they've lost their animals, their wells have dried up and food is too expensive to afford."

OCHA called for the scaling up of the emergency response across the region, urging governments, donors and relief agencies step up efforts to prevent further deterioration as donations are falling far short of targets set by the UN.