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The United Nations (UN) is calling for financial assistance for the Horn of Africa region due to the worsening drought crisis.
The UN has issued warnings that from southern Ethiopia through Somalia to northern Kenya, drought and famine threaten the lives of more than 20 million people. "We don't have much time, we are pressed for money to save lives," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffith said.
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According to Griffith, who recently made a two-day visit to Kenya, the drought has affected more than 18 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, of whom most wake up hungry, not knowing whether they will have food that day or not.
The UN Under-Secretary-General said the situation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks, amid estimations that the next rainy season, from October to December, will be as disastrous as it has been in the past four seasons.
The UN warned that significant loss of life could occur in the coming period due to the drought ravaging the Horn of Africa, and urged a new wave of financial aid in order to broaden the reach of humanitarian operations in the region.
On Thursday, The United Nations appealed for immediate funds to help the Horn of Africa, warning that intense suffering in the drought-stricken region was likely to worsen.
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“We are out of time. We urgently need money to save lives,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths… pic.twitter.com/bHXsdgVtrx
The last three rainy seasons in these areas where the population lives mainly on agriculture and livestock farming have seen a decrease in rainfall. There has also been an invasion of locust pests that ravaged crops in the Horn of Africa between 2019 and 2021.
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