Jilo Wile, a local government official, fears the villagers will be next to succumb to the drought. Like its neighbours Somalia and Kenya, southern Ethiopia is enduring the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades. Somalia has been hit the hardest with the drought claiming an estimated 43,000 lives last year, but still short of the famine many aid workers had predicted. “Collectively, as communities, they have run out of coping mechanisms,” said Kate Maldonado from the international aid agency Mercy Corps, who recently visited southern Ethiopia's Somali region. The population across much of southern Ethiopia's lowlands relies overwhelmingly on its livestock, with diets supplemented by basic crops like maize.

Source: Ethiopian News April 06, 2023 23:16 UTC