Drought in Ethiopia kills livestock amid fears of what comes next

A man in Borena feeding his cattle. Image Agelgl Media.

A man in Borena feeding his cattle. Image Agelgl Media.  

The cattle in the southern Ethiopian town of Kura Kalicha are dying of starvation after three years of insufficient rains. The dry ground is covered with dozens of decomposing cattle carcasses, their flesh being picked off by scavengers.

 

Jilo Wile, a representative of the local government, worries that the people would be the next to perish in the drought. According to him, more than 100 locals are suffering from severe malnutrition and are in hospitals.

 

"This number includes children, elders, and pregnant women,” Jilo, who has lost 73 of his 75 cows to starvation told Reuters.

 

The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in decades, and southern Ethiopia is suffering along with its neighbors Somalia and Kenya. The current rainy season is anticipated to fail as well after failing five times in a row, prompting concerns from aid organizations that additional assistance is required to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

 

According to the United Nations, who defines food insecurity as a lack of regular access to the safe and nourishing food needed for growth, development, and daily life, close to 12 million people, or ten percent of the population, are thought to live in Ethiopia's drought-affected areas.

 

The worst-affected country is Somalia, where the drought is believed to have killed 43,000 people last year, falling short of the famine that many relief workers had feared.

 

Humanitarian workers predict that it won't be long until there are deaths directly related to the drought in the Oromiya region, where Kura Kalicha is located, or the adjacent drought-affected regions of Ethiopia.

 

“Collectively, as communities they have run out of coping mechanisms,” said Kate Maldonado from international aid agency Mercy Corps, who recently visited southern Ethiopia's Somali region.

 

The majority of the people living in southern Ethiopia's lowlands depend on their livestock, and they supplement their diets with staple crops like maize.

 

The available relief, according to the locals, has been minimal and delayed to arrive. In a statement published last month, the federal government of Ethiopia stated that it was collaborating with relief agencies to assist individuals in need.

 

Requests for comment from a federal government representative went unanswered. Officials responded quickly, according to Hailu Aduga, a representative of the Oromiya regional government.

 

"The aid is not enough given the number of those who are in need. But we have been working to avoid a loss of human life," he told Reuters.

 

Everyone agrees the available resources are inadequate. Last year, Ethiopia received only half of the $3.34 billion required for humanitarian needs, including the drought, but also the fallout from the two-year war in the northern region of Tigray, which ended last November after tens of thousands of deaths.

 

“If we don’t scale up our assistance, it won’t be possible to prevent the looming hunger crisis from affecting children, girls and their families,” said Mudasser Siddiqui, country director for Plan International, a child rights organisation.

 

Jilo Guracha, a 40-year-old a mother of seven, walked 85 kilometres (53 miles) in the scorching head to reach a camp where she and two of her sons could receive food rations.

 

The camp, in the Dubuluk district, was set up a year ago in an empty field, and now hosts 53,000 people who live in small huts made from grass and used plastic bags.

 

“Some are committing suicide after failing to provide for their family," she said. "We beg the government to save us from dying of hunger until God brings us rain."

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