Comedian Tommy Tiernan has returned from Somalia where he witnessed the devastating humanitarian disaster unfolding there and in the Horn of Africa
Trócaire has warned of a rapid deterioration in the food crisis in Somalia, saying the international community must not wait for famine to be declared to adequately respond.
Trócaire Country Director Manager for Somalia, Paul Healy, said the situation is the worst in living memory, with the number of people experiencing acute hunger already surpassing the number affected in the famine of 2011, when more than a quarter of a million people died. One in six people in the East African country are now facing extreme hunger. One person is now thought to be dying in the region every 36 seconds.
Mr Healy said: “Somalia is on the fast track towards famine, but we should not have to wait until famine is officially declared for a proper response. The international community needs to act and act now. What we are seeing on the ground is devastating. People are suffering. Children are dying.”
He said climate change has wiped out crops and three million livestock have died in Somalia since mid-2021, with large parts of the country about to enter what is projected to be its fifth failed rainy season.
A failed rainfall season in late 2022 would leave no prospects for recovery until at least the start of the next rainfall season in April 2023.
Mr Healy said a million people have been displaced in Somalia this year, 800,000 due to drought. “The crisis has been exacerbated in many places by conflict, and by rising food prices due in part to the war in Ukraine, and reduced supply from neighbouring countries also struggling.
“This has resulted in sorghum, maize and wheat prices reaching near record to record levels in July, beyond the reach of most poor households who depend heavily on market purchases to access food.”
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