A Dhaasanac man from southern Ethiopia, inspects a cow which is dying of hunger, a few hundred meters from the official Kenya-Ethiopia border in northwestern Kenya October 13, 2013. The Turkana are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, but they have seen the pasture that they need to feed their herds suffer from recurring droughts and many have turned to fishing. However, Lake Turkana is overfished, and scarcity of food and pastureland is fuelling long-standing conflict with Ethiopian indigenous Dhaasanac, who have seen grazing grounds squeezed by large-scale government agricultural schemes in southern Ethiopia. The Dhaasanac now venture ever deeper into Kenyan territory in search of fish and grass, clashing with neighbours. Fighting between the communities has a long history, but the conflict has become ever more fatal as automatic weapons from other regional conflicts seep into the area. While the Turkana region is short of basics like grass and ground-water, it contains other resources including oil reserves and massive, newly discovered underground aquifers. Picture taken October 13, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (KENYA - Tags: AGRICULTURE CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 36 OF 38 FOR PACKAGE 'FISHING AND FIREARMS ON LAKE TURKANA' TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'TURKANA MODOLA' - RTX160Z6
ESAT News (August 8, 2017)
Photo: Siegfried Modola/Reuters
Aid agencies and the Ethiopian regime say at least 8.5 million people will require relief food assistance in the second half of 2017, up from 5.6 million in January.
The new report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the revised net requirements to address identified food and non-food needs for the remainder of the year is US$487.7 million.
“At least 8.5 million people will require relief food assistance in the second half of 2017; some 3.6 million moderately malnourished children and pregnant and lactating mothers will require supplementary feeding; some 10.5 million people will require support for regular access to safe drinking water and some 2.2 million households will require livestock support,” according to the mid-year review document released by the government on Monday.
Humanitarian partners also estimate that 375,000 children will become severely acutely malnourished until the end of 2017.
The United States last week announced an additional $137 million funding for the 2017 humanitarian requirement in Ethiopia.