Hunger drives families into Uganda
An elderly woman waits for food with other internally-displaced Somalis at a distribution point at the government-run Badbaado refugee camp in a suburb of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Some of the 150,000 people faced with starvation in Turkana West District have moved to Kapong and Kotito areas in Uganda in hunt for food and pasture for their animals.. AFP PHOTO/ Mustafa ABDI
Some famine-stricken families in Turkana have moved to Uganda in search of food as drought wreaks havoc in the arid region.
Some of the 150,000 people faced with starvation in Turkana West District have moved to Kapong and Kotito areas in Uganda in hunt for food and pasture for their animals.
“Most families are faced with starvation after they lost livestock that was their main source of food to the unrelenting drought,” said Turkana West DOI Eric Wafula Wanyonyi.
He said that some schools had to close early due to food shortage despite allocations of more rations to cushion the children from starvation.
Conflict threat
“Some herdsmen have migrated with over 10,000 animals to Uganda in search of food and pasture posing conflict threats among pastoral communities,” added Mr Wanyonyi.
Nearly 350,000 people are faced with starvation in Turkana, 100,000 of them in Turkana South and East districts.
“I hope the government and other well wishers will save us from this suffering by supplying us with food,” appealed Ms Esther Loti of Lopois village.
Ms Loti said her sister Veronica Akeron died two weeks ago due to hunger-related illness.
Villagers at Lopois, Kalapata, Nakaale and parts of Kerio valley told the Nation that they were experiencing difficulties in accessing medical services due to long distances to the nearest hospitals.
Some claimed they had not received relief supplies for the past four months while animals that were their main source of income died due to starvation.
