Source The United Nations
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that the reality caused by the drought in Somalia is “unprecedented”, warning the possible “horror of famine coming to the Horn of Africa.”
Speaking today (6 Sep) to reporters via a video link from Mogadishu, the humanitarian chief recalled his visits to Baidoa, the epicenter of the hunger crisis ripping through Somalia. He described the immense suffering of the displaced people that he has witnessed.
He said, “hunger is a gateway to disease. So what that means is if you’re going to try to save people from famine, you need to do it through bringing up nutrition, water supply and food inputs together in one package to people who are at risk of dying from famine and from hunger behind it.”
Griffiths also said, “three million animals have died in Somalia alone or being sold because continued drought, continued failed rainy seasons means that the generations way of life is under threat. And what is so clear that people are under threat and under stress, they calculate the margins holding the rest of us. So what we deduce from that – we need to help them with alternative life.”
He added, “we have to help people with what we call here in Somalia resilience by which we mean an alternative way of life. This means development funding. This means climate funding, it’s not the humanitarian funding. It’s the other partners that are needed just to stay in a future of Somalia.”