Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

United Nations upgrades drought in southern Somalia to famine status

An elderly Somali woman arrives at Dadaab refugee camp, in northern Kenya; despite the dangers, thousands of refugees every week are making the journey south from Somalia into Kenya, walking for weeks across the desert and braving attacks by armed robbers and wild animals; Dadaab is now the world’s largest refugee camp, supporting more than 370,000 … Continue reading

Drought / East Africa / Kenya / Somalia / Vulnerability

‘I never thought I’d lose all my cattle; I never thought I’d be a refugee’–Abdi Farah Hassan

A kilometre outside Waridaad village, in Somalia, carcasses of dead sheep and goats stretch across the landscape; this and other regions of the Horn of Africa are suffering from one of the driest years in memory; severe shortages of food and water, along with spiralling food prices and the deaths of livestock, have plunged many … Continue reading

Drought / East Africa / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Exodus from rural Somalia; long drought depletes families of last crops, animals, food

Despite the dangers, thousands of refugees every week are making the journey to Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, walking for weeks across the desert and braving attacks by armed robbers and wild animals; Dadaab is now the world’s largest refugee complex, currently supporting more than 370,000 people (11 July 2011) (photo on Flickr by Oxfam International). In … Continue reading