ADDIS ABABA - the United Nations appealed on Friday for $166 million to feed and treat 1.7 million people facing starvation and disease in drought-ravaged Ethiopia.
Bjorn Liungqvist, the UN acting humanitarian coordinator said the drought had mainly affected livestock farmers in the Horn of Africa country following the failure of rains.
"The situation in the pastoral areas is most critical," Liungqvist said in a statement.
The lack of rains in many parts of East Africa, including Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, has left around 6 million people on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.
Aid agencies say pastoral communities are worst hit by the drought as their survival depends on the climate, and the lack of rain across the three neighbouring nations has prevented them from using their normal coping mechanism: migration.
Liungqvist said the nomadic communities in the region were also threatened by the onset of disease.
"Malaria, measles and meningitis all require intense preventive interventions to control their threat," he said.
The region also faces the threat of floods, locust invasions and other disasters, and Liungqvist urged the donor community to act fast to prevent further tragedy.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
