hunger

Somalia hunger crisis deepens as 6.5 million face severe food insecurity, UN and government warn Nearly 6.5 million people in Somalia are facing severe hunger as intensifying drought, conflict and global aid cuts accelerate a mounting humanitarian crisis, the federal government and U.N. agencies said Tuesday, citing new food security data. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis projects that 6.5 million people will face crisis or worse levels of food insecurity by the end of March.…

MOGADISHU — Hunger is surging across Somalia as four consecutive failed rainy seasons collide with steep reductions in humanitarian funding, pushing millions toward acute food insecurity, according to a new analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The report estimates 4.8 million people faced Crisis-level or worse acute food insecurity in January, with that figure projected to jump to 6.5 million between February and March — nearly double the number recorded a year ago. Aid groups say the trend…

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has launched a hunger strike from prison to demand access to phone calls, her lawyers and family, her Paris-based attorney said, as authorities tighten restrictions on one of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders. Mohammadi, 53, was arrested on Dec. 12 in the eastern city of Mashhad and “has been on hunger strike for the last three days,” lawyer Chirinne Ardakani told AFP. “She is demanding her right to make a phone call, have access to her lawyers in Iran and…

Three Palestine Action activists have ended a 73-day hunger strike in a UK prison after campaigners said the government denied a £2 billion (€2.3 billion) contract to Israeli-based defence firm Elbit Systems — a development the activists’ supporters described as a key demand of the protest. Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi and Lewie Chiaramello began re-feeding yesterday, the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said. The organisation, which has coordinated updates from supporters of the detainees, said Umer Khalid remains on…

The European Union has announced €250,000 (about Sh40 million) in humanitarian aid to help Kenyan communities facing a worsening convergence of drought, floods, food insecurity and disease outbreaks. The funding will be routed through the Disaster Response Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support operations by the Kenya Red Cross Society. In a statement issued Tuesday, the EU said the allocation responds to Kenya’s “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation,…

Sudan’s Struggling Farmers: The Human Toll of War and Power Shortages In the quiet, arid village of Tanqasi, Hatem Abdelhamid stands among rows of dying date palms. These trees, once a symbol of prosperity, now wither under the harsh burden of Sudan’s ongoing conflict. Power outages have crippled irrigation, turning once fertile fields into barren landscapes. “I’ve lost 70% to 75% of my crops this year,” Abdelhamid laments, his eyes scanning the wilting rows. He gestures helplessly at the parched earth, a testament to…

The food crisis in Somalia is grim, with around 4.4 million people expected to face severe hunger between October and December, according to the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Currently, about 3.6 million Somalis are grappling with extreme hunger. This figure is projected to swell to 4.4 million as we move into the latter months of the year, when anticipated rainfall is below average," reported OCHA. From October through December, a time notorious for rising disease outbreaks…

Mogadishu (AX) — Millions of people in Somalia face dire hunger threats as the La Niña climate pattern predicts below-average rainfall. The situation risks plunging the nation back into the calamity of near-famine that it narrowly avoided back in late 2022. Hence, the UN is urgently appealing for humanitarian relief to prevent an impending food crisis of significant magnitude. A recent report from the IPC, backed by the FAO, OCHA, UNICEF, and WFP, indicates a grim reality: 3.6 million Somalis, or about 19% of the…

The Struggles of Youth Amidst Zimbabwe's Drought On a Tuesday morning, while other children attend school, five-year-old Talent is on a quest for fruit. His family’s crops have wilted under the relentless sun. The global El Niño phenomenon, wreaking havoc on weather patterns for over a year, coupled with the escalating climate crisis in Africa, leaves Talent's grandmother, Winnie Chihota, helpless as she witnesses the dreams of a generation fade away. In the heart of Zimbabwe's Mudzi district, agriculture serves as a…

Large parts of the country, stretching from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, are in the grip of a severe drought that has left 13 million people hungry. Everywhere in these regions, where people support themselves mainly on agro-pastoral activities, the three rainy periods since the end of 2020 have been characterized by low rainfall, exacerbated by a grasshopper invasion that devastated the harvests between 2019 and 2021. "Hornet's population makes up only 4% of the global population,…