In Somalia, a large number of people are currently in need of food assistance due to the compounding impacts of extended drought, desert locust infestations, the economic impacts of COVID-19 and conflict.
The United Nations has warned the Horn of Africa nation that it is on the verge of starvation for the second time in less than ten years, with 200,000 people at risk.
Abebe Haile-Gabriel, regional representative of Africa for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told AFP during a visit to Abuja, that the situation in Somalia at the moment is extremely frightening.
According to WHO many were likely already starving to death, and that relief workers would not be able to meet the growing demand.
The FAO representative, an Ethiopian who was once the head of agriculture for the African Union, added that attempts had been made to aid farmers in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where rebels are once more engaged in combat with government forces.
This however is not a permanent solution. The sustainable solution is to find peace so that normal life can go on.
The war between the government and rebels has claimed so many lives and prompted a humanitarian crisis, and all sides to the conflict have been accused of abuses against civilians. Eritrean soldiers have crossed the border to back Ethiopian troops since fighting commenced in august.