UN says drought uproots 845,000 people in Ethiopia, Somalia
March 9, 2022, 6:51 am

UN says drought uproots 845,000 people in Ethiopia, Somalia

A UN spokesman said on Tuesday that the Ethiopia-Somalia drought has uprooted 845,000 people from their homes and killed more than 1.5 million head of livestock in Ethiopia alone (File photo: Pixabay)

The Xinhua reported, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday that the Ethiopia-Somalia drought has uprooted 845,000 people from their homes and killed more than 1.5 million head of livestock in Ethiopia alone.

Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said: "We and our (humanitarian) partners are scaling up assistance to people affected by the drought and have reached more than 2.7 million people with food assistance" in Ethiopi. "Some 175,000 people have now been displaced from their homes."

Dujarric said that more than 120 metric tons of medicine and other supplies were dispatched last month to the drought-affected areas of Ethiopia. Humanitarians are distributing therapeutic food to treat malnourished children.

He said that in Somalia, 4.5 million people are affected, and about 670,000 fled their homes. In some of the worst affected areas, water prices spiked at a 72 percent increase over November 2021.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (File photo: Facebook)

The spokesman said nearly half of the children under 5 years of age, more than 1.4 million children, are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition due to the continuing drought.

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He said: "Despite support from donors and others, additional funding is urgently needed since needs are expected to further increase." The Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia, seeking nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to help 5.5 million of the most vulnerable Somalis, is only 3.3 percent funded.

Source: xinhua

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.