Cows are dead due to drought in Africa.
PHOTO BY AP
The Horn of Africa is predicted to experience a drought for six consecutive seasons, worse than the one that claimed 260,000 lives in Somalia a decade ago.
According to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), low rainfall and high temperatures are expected from March to May.
The area includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti, more broadly including all or parts of Kenya, Sudan, and South Sudan.
According to ICPAC, trends in the regions severely affected by drought are worse than the 2010–2011 drought, when more than 13 million people were stricken by famine during the worst drought in 60 years.
The Food Security and Nutrition Working Group stated that up to 23 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, today experience severe food shortages.
In the equatorial part of the Greater Horn of Africa, which includes Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania, the critical three-month period frequently produces as much as 60 percent of the annual rainfall.
The forecast supports the worries of meteorologists and aid organizations, who have forewarned of an unprecedented humanitarian calamity as the region is engulfed in the longest and most severe drought.
It may not rain this year in the regions of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda, most hit by the current drought.
According to ICPAC, the likelihood of a drier spell is also increased for some of Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Tanzania, and western South Sudan. KD/Expat Media
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