UN Says Horn of Africa Drought Kills over 1.5 Million Livestock, Warns of Catastrophe

Drought affected livestock walk toward a river near Biyolow Kebele, in the Adadle woreda of the Somali region of Ethiopia Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.  (Michael Tewelde/WFP via AP)
Drought affected livestock walk toward a river near Biyolow Kebele, in the Adadle woreda of the Somali region of Ethiopia Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. (Michael Tewelde/WFP via AP)
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UN Says Horn of Africa Drought Kills over 1.5 Million Livestock, Warns of Catastrophe

Drought affected livestock walk toward a river near Biyolow Kebele, in the Adadle woreda of the Somali region of Ethiopia Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.  (Michael Tewelde/WFP via AP)
Drought affected livestock walk toward a river near Biyolow Kebele, in the Adadle woreda of the Somali region of Ethiopia Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. (Michael Tewelde/WFP via AP)

Drought in the Horn of Africa has killed more than 1.5 million livestock and drastically cut cereal production, “and we are most definitely now sitting on the brink of catastrophe,” a senior official for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday.

Rein Paulsen, FAO’s director of emergencies and resilience who returned from the region Friday, said a “very small window" exists for taking urgent action, and a key is whether the region’s long rains between March and May are good -- and whether the agency gets the $130 million it needs until June.

The short rains in the region, which includes parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, were supposed to come between October and December but “were extremely poor,” he said. “And this represents the third consecutive failed rainy season with lower average rans, all of which has a severe impact on vulnerable households.”

The result of the drought meant that overall cereal production for the last rainy season in southern Somalia was estimated to be 58% lower than the long-term average, Paulsen said. In agricultural areas in marginal coastal zones in southeastern parts of Kenya, “we’re looking at crop production estimated to be 70% below average,” he said, The Associated Press reported.

In addition, most places for water that have usually been resilient to climate variability have dried up in Kenya, he said during a virtual news conference from Rome.

Paulsen said $130 million in funding is essential now to provide cash for people to buy food until production resumes, to keep livestock alive and to provide drought-resistant seeds for farmers to reap a harvest.

“We have a window to the middle of this year — to June, which is a very time sensitive, narrow window for urgent actions to scale up to prevent a worst-case scenario,” Paulsen said. “Agriculture needs a lot more attention. It’s central to the survival of drought affected communities.”

During his visit to the region, Paulsen said: “We saw both livestock and wildlife carcasses by the side of the road as we were driving. We saw animals dying together with their farmers, and the numbers I think are quite shocking.”

In Kenya alone, 1.4 million livestock died in the final part of last year as a result of drought, and in southern Ethiopia, about 240,000 livestock died as a result of drought, he said.

Paulsen said that “it was quite traumatic driving through communities and seeing farmers tending livestock as they were dying by the side of the roads.”

Livestock are not only crucial to people’s livelihoods, he said, but they provide milk for children, and FAO is focused on providing urgent fodder and water to keep them alive.

The UN World Food Program said Feb. 8 that drought has left an estimated 13 million people in the Horn of Africa facing severe hunger amid the driest conditions since 1981. It is seeking $327 million to look after the urgent needs of 4.5 million people over the next six months.



50 European Leaders Assess How Trump Will Affect their Fortunes

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
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50 European Leaders Assess How Trump Will Affect their Fortunes

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 7, 2024, European leaders, including Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (1st row, C) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (1st row, 3rd L) pose for a group photo during the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Around 50 European leaders on Thursday called for a stronger defense posture across the continent that no longer necessitates a fundamental dependence on Washington as they gave a guarded welcome to incoming US President Donald Trump.
The European Political Community summit on Thursday in Hungary's capital Budapest reassessed trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Donald Trump's second US presidency will avoid the strife of his first administration.
“He was elected by the American people. He will defend the American interests," French President Emmanuel Macron told the other leaders, adding that it was not the role of European Union leaders to “comment on the election ... to wonder if it is good or not.”
“The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest. It is the only question. It is our priority,” The Associated Press quoted Macron as saying.
Time and again, leaders stepped up to say European defense efforts should be increased.
During his first 2017-2021 presidency, Trump strongly pushed the European NATO allies to spend more on defense, up to and beyond 2% of gross domestic product, and to be less reliant on US military cover. That point has totally sunk in.
“He was the one in NATO who stimulated us to move over the 2%. And now, also thanks to him, NATO, if you take out the numbers of the US, is above the 2%,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said.
Charles Michel, the council president of the 27-nation EU, agreed that the continent needed to become less reliant on the United States.
“We have to be more masters of our destiny,” he said. “Not because of Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, but because of our children.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was “time to wake up from our geopolitical naivete and to realize that we need to commit additional resources in order to be able to address major challenges. It is a (question of) competitiveness and a European defense.”
During his election campaign, Trump threatened anything from a trade war with Europe to a withdrawal from NATO commitments and a fundamental shift of support for Ukraine in its war with Russia — all issues that could have groundbreaking consequences for nations across Europe.
“Of course he said a lot of things during the campaign,” said Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, adding they won't all be appearing in his official policies. “Transatlantic cooperation is of the utmost importance both for the US and European interests.”
For now, European leaders hope a new beginning holds the promise of smoother relations.
Rutte, who was Dutch prime minister during Trump's first presidency, said, “I worked with him very well for four years. He is extremely clear about what he wants. He understands that you have to deal with each other to come to joint positions. And I think we can do that.”
And Rutte insisted that the challenges posed by Russia in Ukraine affected both sides of the Atlantic.
“Russia is delivering the latest technology into North Korea in return for North Korean help with the war against Ukraine. And this is a threat not only to the European part of NATO, but also to the US mainland,” he said as he arrived at the summit.
During the campaign, Trump said if he were reelected, he would end the war in Ukraine, now well into its third year, in a single day. Ukraine and many of its European backers fear that this means a peace on terms favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin and involving the surrender of territory.
European allies in NATO hope to convince Trump that if he helps to negotiate any peace, it should be done from a position of strength, for both Ukraine and the US.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke to Trump last night by phone, told reporters in Budapest that Europe and the US need each other to remain strong.
“It was a good, productive conversation. Of course, we cannot yet know what his specific actions will be. But we hope that America will become stronger. This is the kind of America Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs. This is the bond between allies that should be valued and must not be lost,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the summit’s host and an ardent Trump fan, said early Thursday that he already had a phone call with the incoming president overnight, announcing, “We have big plans for the future!”
So did hard-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who lauded the “deep and historic strategic partnership that has always tied Rome and Washington.”
That partnership came under constant pressure during Trump’s first term. Trump’s administration slapped tariffs on EU steel and aluminum in 2018, based on the claim that foreign products, even if produced by American allies, were a threat to US national security. Europeans and other allies retaliated with duties on US-made motorcycles, peanut butter and jeans, among other items.
Further compounding an already complicated situation in Europe, Germany — the continent's troubled economic juggernaut — sank into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, causing his governing coalition to collapse. Scholz, who remained in Berlin instead of joining the summit in Budapest, will now lead a minority government.
The turmoil raises the specter of an election in a few months and yet another standoff between the emboldened hard right and the establishment parties in Europe.
Those two combined “adds even more pepper and salt to this situation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.