22.4 mln people severely food insecure in Horn of Africa: UN-OCHA

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) revealed on Wednesday that 22.4 million people in the Horn of Africa region need food aid.

In a press statement, UN-OCHA, said 700,000 people in Kenya, 1.6 million people in Somalia, 6.1 million people in South Sudan, 7.9 million people in Ethiopia and 6.2 million people in Sudan are food insecure.

UN-OCHA said conflict and internal violence has contributed to a spike in the number of food insecure people in Sudan and South Sudan, although sustained humanitarian response and good rainfall in Somalia has helped to slightly decrease the number of food insecure people in Somalia.

UN-OCHA further said the Horn of Africa region is also suffering from displacement crisis mainly because of armed conflict and internal violence, mainly in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

Ethnic violence along the common border of Ethiopia’s Gedeo zone in Southern regional and West Guji zone in Oromia regional state since April has led to the displacement of around 960,000 Ethiopians, contributing to a dramatic spike in number of internally displaced people in Ethiopia in recent months.

The UN-OCHA report also revealed conflicts have led to the creation of around 3.82 million refugees in and from the Horn of Africa region.