Editorials

The Irish Times view on hunger in the Horn of Africa: racing to avert a catastrophe

Up to 22 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations

A dead goat on the outskirts of Doolow town, Somalia, in May. The worst drought in four decades, and a sharp rise in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, have left almost half of Somalia’s people facing acute food shortages. Photograph: Malin Fezehai/The New York Times
Mon Sept 12 2022 - 08:48

In parts of the Horn of Africa, no rain has fallen in two years. The cattle have died, food supply is meagre. The land – and the incomes that depend on it – have dried up. Across whole swathes of this vast region, the worst drought in more than 40 years has taken hold. Without urgent international mobilisation, aid agencies say, famine will follow. The last time a famine was declared in Somalia, in 2010-11, a quarter of a million people died.

Already, the figures are staggering. Up to 22 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations. More than 1 million have been forced from their homes in search of food and water. One in three Somali children is facing chronic malnutrition.

A lack of food, in turn, weakens the body’s defences, opening the door to diseases such as pneumonia, measles and cholera. As always in such situations, it is the vulnerable who are disproportionately affected, especially subsistence farmers and people who live in conflict zones.

The trigger for the emergency in this, one of the world’s poorest regions, was that prolonged drought – or, more precisely, four consecutive droughts – which left the land parched, killed millions of cows and goats and, therefore, decimated the main source of food and income for pastoralist farmers. But the causes are at once wider and deeper than that. The Horn of Africa relies on Russia and Ukraine for more than 90 per cent of its wheat supplies, so the sudden interruption in trade following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine hit the region hard.

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Prices for food and fuel spiked, making it difficult for many families to afford even basic items; this summer, the average cost for a household to meet its basic food needs was at its highest in five years. These problems are compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic and are playing out against a background shaped in profound ways by the rapidly changing climate as a result of global warming.

This crisis did not emerge overnight. It has been building steadily, in full view of anyone who was paying attention, yet even at this emergency stage, much of the world still chooses to avert its gaze. During a visit to the region last week, Minister for Overseas Aid Colm Brophy pledged an extra €3.2 million to the effort to stave off a humanitarian catastrophe. The Government has directed almost €80 million in aid funding to the region over the past 18 months, putting Ireland among the largest per capita donors to the UN response. Irish aid agencies are also doing important work in difficult conditions across the region. But the global response overall has been woefully lacking, and time to put that right is running out.

The next rainy season is due next month. It is forecast to fail.