Some 332,000 people could die in the Horn of Africa if they do not receive urgent food aid

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned of the urgency of assisting millions of people enduring one of the longest and most severe droughts on record in the Horn of Africa, where a sixth consecutive rainy season has begun with no rainfall. 

UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, Olga Sarrado, noted that more than eight million people require food assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, stressing that some 332,000 "urgently need food or their lives will be at risk". 

Sarrado explained that eight out of ten displaced people are women and children, and warned that the lack of rainfall and conflict 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 uprooted population could reach 300,000 by July 2023. 

UNHCR appealed to international donors for $137 million to sustain its humanitarian programmes this year, when more than three million refugees and IDPs have been forced to flee their homes in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Survival is a struggle for these uprooted communities, who move between scarce water sources, hunger, insecurity and conflict. "They need security and assistance," Sarrado insisted, adding that host communities also need help. 

"While famine has so far been averted in Somalia, mainly due to an intensified humanitarian response, people continue to struggle with food and water shortages as a result of massive crop, livestock and income losses," she said. 

In addition, UNHCR said prices of essential food and other commodities "remain at their highest and beyond the reach of many. The dangerous confluence of climate and conflict in the region is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation," she said. 

According to UNHCR data, 288,000 people in Somalia alone have been displaced by conflict and drought this year. 

In addition, some 180,000 refugees from Somalia and South Sudan have crossed into drought-affected areas of Kenya and Ethiopia. 

In the already drought-stricken Somali region of Ethiopia, nearly 100,000 people have arrived in Doolo in recent weeks after fleeing conflict in the Laascaanood area of Somalia. 

UNHCR cited the case of a 60-year-old Somali woman in the Dadaab camps in Kenya, who endured three decades of conflict in southern Somalia and had to flee due to extreme hunger.

"Most of the newly displaced may never return to their places of origin because the land can no longer feed them, and insecurity will only increase as competition for already scarce resources grows," added the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in an alert on Somalia's record 3.8 million displaced people. 

"As a result, entire families will be born and raised in informal settlements amid inadequate living conditions," it stressed. 

UNHCR plans to provide more basic relief items, including emergency shelter and household items for newly arrived refugees and displaced people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. 

Water trucking will also be increased while additional wells are drilled and existing water and sanitation systems are restored. 

The relief operation includes cash transfers for the most vulnerable and support to health facilities to extend nutritional assistance to women and children, as well as medical treatment for related diseases. 

"It is urgent to provide this assistance and protection to save millions of lives," the UNHCR spokeswoman stressed, regretting that last year's appeal drew less than half the amount required to respond to the drought.