Opinion | Mr. President, do you hear mothers of starving children crying in Africa?
By Augustus K. Yeung
Introduction
First came the drought, drying up rivers and claiming the lives of two of Ruqiya Hussein Ahmed's children as her family fled the barren countryside in south-west Somalia, reported Abdi Latif Dahir with feelings of empathy. ("War compounds Africa hunger crisis". The New York Times. Thursday, April 7, 2022)
Then came the war in Ukraine, pushing food prices so high that even after making it to the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu, she is struggling to keep her two other children alive. "Even here, we have nothing," she said.
Across East Africa, below-average rainfall has created some of the driest conditions in four decades, according to the United Nations, leaving more than 13 million people facing severe hunger. Seasonal harvests have sunk to their lowest levels in decades, malnourished children are filling hospitals, and many families are walking long distances to find help.
The devastating drought has blanketed most of Somalia, leaving nearly a third of the population hungry. In neighboring Kenya, the drought has left more than three million people short of food and killed more than 1.5 million livestock.
And in Ethiopia, where a civil war has impeded aid delivery into the northern Tigray region, food insecurity is more widespread than at any other time in the last six years.
The War in Ukraine is Making the Crisis even Worse in East Africa…
The war in Ukraine is making the crisis even worse by raising the prices of grains, fuel and fertilizer.
Russia and Ukraine are among the region's largest suppliers of agricultural commodities, such as wheat, soybeans and barley. At least 14 African countries import half of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Eritrea depends on them entire for its wheat imports.
"The conflict in Ukraine is compounding an already complicated situation in East Africa" Gabriela Bucher, the executive director for the charity organization Oxfam International, said in a phone interview. "East Africa is not on the global agenda now, but the region needs the solidarity of the international community and its needs it now."
The effects of the devastating drought and the war in Ukraine have been amplified by a series of crises over the past two years. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted food supply chains and forced many families to pay higher prices for staples. A locust infestation in Kenya, the civil war in Ethiopia, extreme flooding in South Sudan, political crises and terrorist attacks in Somalia and intensifying ethnic conflict in Sudan have all contributed to the destruction of farms, the depletion of harvests and a growing food crisis, aid groups say.
The War in Ukraine is Expected to Cause Further Spikes in Food Costs Across the Region.
The conflict, depending on how long it lasts, could reduced "the quantity and quality" of staples like wheat, said Sean Granville-Ross, the regional director for Africa at Mercy Corps, a nongovernmental organization.
"Meeting the basic needs of vulnerable drought-affected populations will become more expensive and challenging," he said.
That is already happening in many parts of the region.
In Somalia, the price of a 20-liter container of cooking oil – about five gallons – has increased to 55 pounds, of beans now go for $28 instead of $18, according to data gathered by Mercy Corps.
In Sudan, the price of bread has nearly doubled, and some bakeries have closed because wheat imports have dropped by 60 percent since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, according to Elsadig Elnour, the Sudan country director for the charity organization Islamic Relief.
Kenya, citing the war, also raised the price of fuel, leading to protests in parts of the country.
During famines, children are particularly vulnerable. An estimates 5.5 million children in the region face high levels of malnutrition from the drought, according to World Vision, a Christian aid organization.
"My children died of hunger. They suffered," said Ms Ahmed, whose children 3 and 4 years old, died during her days-long trek from her home in Adde Ali village in the Lower Shabelle region to the outskirts of Mogadishu." They died under a tree."
In Mogadishu, families are feeling the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine, with rising food prices squeezing household budgets during the holy month of Ramadan. With no job, proper shelter or access to the beans, maize and tomatoes she once farmed, Ms. Ahmed now relies on food donations from well-wishers to feed her two surviving children, who are 7 and 9.
And aid programs are stretched thin. The war has affected the operations of the World Food Program, which last month said it had reduced rations for refugees and others in East Africa and the Middle East because of rising costs and depleting funds.
Just 3 percent of the $6 billion the U.N. needs this year for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan has been allocated, she said, while Kenya has secured only 11 percent of the $139 million needed for assistance.
Late last month, the African Development Bank said it would raise up to $1 billion to improve agricultural production and help Africans become self-sufficient in food in the long run. But while these initiatives are welcome, Ms. Bucher said it was imperative that donors also give unsparingly to avert a much wider crisis.
"The world needs to come to the rescue of East Africa to avert a catastrophe," she said.
Conclusion
Mr. President, the Ukraine conflict drives up cost of food, millions of children in East Africa face high levels of malnutrition.
Do you hear Ms. Ahmed, whose "children 3 and 4 years old, died during her days-long trek from her home"?
Please join an exasperated China--to stop the war. Save these children!
The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:
Opinion | Amid Russia-Ukraine conflict, the sweet smell of peace in the spring air
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