A new report estimates that in the last eighteen months, over 43,000 people have died during the longest drought on record in Somalia, half of the deaths have been children. Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are facing a sixth consecutive failed rainy season amid skyrocketing world food prices. The U.N. estimates that six million people are starving in Somalia alone. Officials say the current drought is trending worse than the 2011 famine in Somalia in which 250,000 people died. An estimated 3.8 million people have been displaced due to the famine and continued fighting between Somalia and al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab. A U.N. coordinator in Somalia said, “Many of the traditional donors have washed their hands and focused on Ukraine.”
