In Somalia, since the start of the drought in January 2021, a million people have been displaced, according to figures published Thursday, August 11, by the UN and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
More than 755,000 people have been internally displaced this year in Somalia due to severe drought in the Horn of Africa, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the NRC. This brings the total figure to one million people displaced since January 2021, when this terrible drought began.
” Huge red flag »
” This milestone of one million people is a huge wake-up call, NRC Somalia director Mohamed Abdi was quoted in a statement as saying. Famine now haunts the entire country. Somalia has been experiencing a historic drought for two years, a situation that has not been observed for more than 40 years, according to the two organizations. The number of people suffering fromsevere food insecurity is expected to rise from around five million to more than seven million in the coming months, a situation exacerbated by the effects of climate change and rising food prices due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Karl Schembri, member of the NRC in East Africa, recounts the plight of the displaced and appeals to the international community. ” A million people have been forced to abandon their homes, their farms. They lost all their livestock. They have no more water, the grass is dry. These people left everything and walked for miles just to find a place to survive. They generally try to reach the nearest towns, where there is basic infrastructure. They now live in very difficult conditions: in huts made of plastic. They got no resources, no jobs in these towns. »
” The elderly »
Karl Schembri indicates that he does not speak there “ than people who managed to flee “. ” But there are old people, children too weak to move, he continues. We ask the international community to come to the aid of these people, to release funds. It is an immediate emergency. We are also asking for aid and long-term plans to help the most vulnerable countries withstand the coming climate shock. Because Somalia is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. »
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