Horn of Africa: A Call for Action
Publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Date: 2017
Topics: Conflict Causes, Humanitarian Assistance, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
The 2016 Deyr or short rains season (October to December) brought severely low levels of rainfall to the region. The rainfall deficit was particularly acute across Somalia, southern and southeastern Ethiopia, northern and coastal Kenya and – to a lesser extent – southwestern Ethiopia and central and southwestern Uganda and southeastern South Sudan. Analysis of the cumulative regional rainfall from August to December shows severe deficits. Areas such as central and southern Somalia have registered only a third of their usual seasonal levels.
In several ways the situation is worse than in 2010-11 because (i) this is the third consecutive year of drought in the region and multiple years of diminished food production has exhausted people’s capacity to cope with another shock; (ii) the greater region suffers from chronic and intensifying conflicts, continued access constraints in some areas, rising refugee numbers and communicable disease outbreaks; and (iii) the drought is expected to worsen in the coming months, with low rainfall forecast for March to May – which is the main rainy season for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in the current drought belt.