11 million people in urgent food need in drought-hit Northeast Africa: UN agencies

Some 11 million people are in urgent need of food assistance in drought-plagued Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, regional representatives of the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday.


"In the Horn of Africa, we have a severe drought that's affecting three countries, primarily, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia and in these three countries we see that 11 million people are in need of urgent assistance," WFP Regional Director for Eastern and Central Africa Valerie Guarnieri told reporters at UNICEF House, across from headquarters in New York.

She added there were famine conditions affecting 100,000 people, including 20,000 children, in two counties of conflict-stricken South Sudan.

"South Sudan is not directly affected by the drought except for a slice of it, but we have a large scale crisis in South Sudan, that's been going on for some time, since the civil war broke out in December 2013," Guarnieri said.
  [globaltimes.cn/Xinhua]
12/4/17