2011 East Africa drought

2011 East Africa drought
Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) food security projection for East Africa at the height of the drought (July–Sept 2011).
CountrySomalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and neighboring countries[1]
LocationEast Africa
PeriodJuly 2011 – August 2012
Total deaths50,000–260,000[2][3]
Death rate0.6–2.8 per 10,000 per day[4]
Theorysevere drought, irregular rainfall
Relief$1.3 billion[5]
Effect on demographics9.5 million in need of assistance in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya[6]

Occurring between July 2011 and mid-2012, a severe drought affected the entire East African region.[7] Said to be "the worst in 60 years",[8] the drought caused a severe food crisis across Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya that threatened the livelihood of 9.5 million people.[6] Many refugees from southern Somalia fled to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, where crowded, unsanitary conditions together with severe malnutrition led to a large number of deaths.[9] Other countries in East Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan and parts of Uganda, were also affected by a food crisis.[8][10][11][12]

According to FAO-Somalia, the food crisis in Somalia primarily affected farmers in the south rather than the northern pastoralists.[13] Human Rights Watch (HRW) consequently noted that most of the displaced persons belonged to the agro-pastoral Rahanweyn clan and the agricultural Bantu ethnic minority group.[14] On 20 July, the United Nations officially declared famine in two regions in the southern part of the country (IPC Phase 5), the first time a famine had been declared in the region by the UN in nearly thirty years.[15][16] Tens of thousands of people are believed to have died in southern Somalia before famine was declared.[15] This was mainly a result of Western governments preventing aid from reaching affected areas in an attempt to weaken the Al-Shabaab militant group, against whom they were engaged.[17][18]

Although fighting disrupted aid delivery in some areas, a scaling up of relief operations in mid-November had unexpectedly significantly reduced malnutrition and mortality rates in southern Somalia, prompting the UN to downgrade the humanitarian situation in the Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabele regions from famine to emergency levels.[19] According to the Lutheran World Federation, military activities in the country's southern conflict zones had also by early December 2011 greatly reduced the movement of migrants.[20] By February 2012, several thousand people had also begun returning to their homes and farms.[21] In addition, humanitarian access to rebel-controlled areas had improved and rainfall had surpassed expectations, improving the prospects of a good harvest in early 2012.[19]

By January 2012, the food crisis in southern Somalia was no longer at emergency levels according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).[22] The UN indicated in February 2012 that indirect data from health and relief centers pointed to improved general conditions from August 2011. The UN also announced that the famine in southern Somalia was over.[23] However, FEWS NET indicated that Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity persisted through March in several areas on account of crop flooding and ongoing military operations in these areas, which restricted humanitarian access, trade and movement.[24]

Aid agencies subsequently shifted their emphasis to recovery efforts, including digging irrigation canals and distributing plant seeds.[23] Long-term strategies by national governments in conjunction with development agencies were said to offer the most sustainable results.[25]

  1. ^ "ActionAid launches £1.5 million appeal for drought-hit East Africa". ActionAid. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  2. ^ Associated Press (29 April 2013). "Famine Toll in 2011 Was Larger Than Previously Reported". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Mortality among populations of southern and central Somalia affected by severe food insecurity and famine during 2010–2012" (PDF). FEWS NET. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Osfdsrtf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Famine in Somalia: causes and solutions". Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  6. ^ a b "UN: Somali famine is over, but action still needed". Thejournal.ie. 6 February 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  7. ^ OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) (10 June 2011). "Eastern Africa Drought Humanitarian Report No. 3". reliefweb.int. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011. >
  8. ^ a b Mike Wooldridge (4 July 2011). "Horn of Africa tested by severe drought". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Huffington Post 16 July 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ OCHA, FEWS-Net (24 June 2011). "East Africa: Famine warning for southern Somalia" (PDF). FEWS-Net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  11. ^ Ben Brown (8 July 2011). "Horn of Africa drought: 'A vision of hell'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  12. ^ "Horn of Africa drought: Somalia aid supplies boosted". BBC News. 12 July 2011. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  13. ^ "Manufacturing a famine: How Somalia crisis became a fund-raising opportunity". Theeastafrican.co.ke. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  14. ^ Human Rights Watch Plan (PDF). Human Rights Watch. p. 17. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  15. ^ a b Pflanz, Mike (20 July 2011). "UN declares first famine in Africa for three decades as US withholds aid". The Daily Telegraph. London. Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  16. ^ "Somalia on verge of famine". CBC News. 18 July 2011. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  17. ^ Alex Perry (18 August 2011). "Somalia: A Very Man-Made Disaster". TIME. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  18. ^ "A sharp-eyed look at contemporary Africa". The Economist. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  19. ^ a b "Famine receding in Somalia but war blocks aid". Reuters. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  20. ^ "Number of Somali refugees declining due to aid and rainfall". Pcusa.org. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kdptc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Source: alertnet // Maria Caspani. "Somalia food crisis recovery will take two years – ICRC". Trust.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  23. ^ a b U.N. Says Famine in Somalia Is Over, but Risks Remain
  24. ^ "FEWS NET – Emergency levels of food insecurity will continue in parts of southern Somalia; grave food security concerns in Sudan and South Sudan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  25. ^ "The worst drought in 60 years in Horn Africa". Africa and Europe in Partnership. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.

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