Over half of population living in famine zones
On Monday, the United Nations announced that 750,000 Somalis are at risk of death within the next few months, and 4 million (over the half the country’s population) are now living in famine zones. Tens of thousands have died so far in the famine, the victims of drought and a ban on food aid by Islamist extremists who rule the majority of southern Somalia. Much of East Africa is reeling from the famine, including Kenya and Ethiopia, where over 12 million people desperately need nourishment. The rainy season will begin in Somalia in the next few weeks, raising the risk of cholera, measles and malaria.