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Drought Threatens Millions in Horn of Africa

A region flooded with weapons and beleaguered by porous borders, endemic poverty and government corruption, the Horn of Africa poses a persistent terrorist threat.
Melody Kokoszka, NPR
A region flooded with weapons and beleaguered by porous borders, endemic poverty and government corruption, the Horn of Africa poses a persistent terrorist threat.
Local water sources have dried up, forcing people to walk more than 40 miles to find water and haul it back with their camels.
Jason Beaubien, NPR /
Local water sources have dried up, forcing people to walk more than 40 miles to find water and haul it back with their camels.

The United Nations estimates that more than 6 million people are at risk of running out of food and water as a result of a drought that stretches across the Horn of Africa.

Historically, the only people who have managed to survive in this arid part of Africa are nomadic herders. They follow the rains and move their goats, sheep, cattle and camels across vast areas between Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

When the rains come, the plains sprout carpets of green grass. Now the plains are long stretches of dirt, interrupted at times by leafless thorn bushes.

According to Oxfam, 70 percent of the cattle and sheep in the region have died since December along with 20 percent of the donkeys and goats. This is occurring in an area where people rely almost entirely on the meat and milk of their livestock to survive.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jason Beaubien is NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent on the Science Desk.