The agency warned about the urgency of assisting millions of people enduring one of the longest and most severe droughts on record in Africa, where a sixth consecutive season without rainfall has already begun.
In view of this situation, UNHCR asked the international community for 137 million dollars to assist,with vital supplies, the population displaced by the lack of food and livelihoods.
UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado said that more than eight million people require food assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and emphasized that around 332,000 people urgently need food, otherwise their lives will be in danger.
He noted that the lack of rainfall and the conflicts in Somalia could force tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in major cities and towns, especially Baidoa and Mogadishu, where the UN projects that the displaced population could total 300,000 people by July 2023.
The amount requested by UNHCR (US$ 137 million) will be used to maintain its humanitarian programs this year, when more than three million refugees and internally displaced persons have been forced to leave their homes in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Sarrado said that survival is a struggle for these displaced communities, who move between water shortages, hunger, insecurity and conflict, so they need assistance just as much as the host communities.
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