Drought, Famine Threaten Life in Kenya
Local Editor
An SOS has been sent out by the UN over the growing threat posed by a drought in Kenya.
In this regard, humanitarian officials warned that unless there is coordinated action by the international community and NGOs, it is a catastrophe waiting to happen, leaving more than 2.7 million people are severely food insecure.
The UN humanitarian undersecretary general, Stephen O'Brien, cautioned that within a couple of months they could be looking at four million people affected by the drought in northern Kenya.
Relatively, one herder named Loko Kalicha Junno said she trekked for a week to save her 10 cattle from dying of thirst and hunger. But none survived. Now, at one of the last watering holes in this remote village, she fears for herself.
"If this water gets finished I am going to die," said the 64-year-old single mother of four.
Meanwhile, Kenya declared the drought that affects nearly half of its counties a national disaster.
The prices of livestock plummeted as buyers take advantage of herders' desperation. A cow that used to sell for $150 or more now sells for $20, and a goat that used to sell for $35 now goes for $2.
Marsabit County is among 10 counties hit hardest by the drought in Kenya and beyond.
Some areas have reported inter-community fighting and land invasions as pastoralists push further on their search for increasingly limited water.
After a severe drought hit East Africa in 2011, Kenya and donors put in place measures to lessen the impact of future droughts on parts of northern Kenya that government reports have called vulnerable.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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