The drought and accompanying famine in East Africa continues to get worse: Three more regions of Somalia have been declared famine zones–defined as places where at least 20% of households face severe shortages and when more than 2 people in 10,000 die daily from hunger. Al Jazeera reports that 29,000 children have died from starvation in the past three months. In total 3.2 million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.
Behind all of this: The worst drought in 60 years. Delivering aid has been hindered due to the Islamist group al-Shabab controlling to worst affected areas; until very recently they have refused access to many aid organizations, and have denied that conditions of famine exist.
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY source: www.treehugger.com