15m Africans on brink of hunger
Some 15m people in the Horn of Africa face a humanitarian disaster because of drought and spiraling food and fuel prices, the UN warns.
The World Food Program says it urgently needs $403 million to prevent starvation in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda until the year end.
In a region plagued by conflict and piracy, lack of water and rising inflation, economic events outside Africa -- which are driving up food and fuel prices -- have exacerbated human suffering especially among the rural and urban poor.
Ethiopia is worst hit, with more than 10 million people in need of extended support -- food or cash.
At least 2.6 million Somalis were also facing acute shortages at the start of this year, but the figure may increase to 3.5 million by the end of 2008.
Meanwhile, Kenya -- which is recovering from months of post-election violence -- is experiencing widespread food insecurity with 1.2 million people in need of urgent supplies, while another 80,000 are locked in an acute food crisis in Djibouti.
The WFP added that the current food shortages are worse than two years ago, when 11 million people, whose conditions were later worsened by heavy floods, needed food aid.
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