USAID Fact Sheet: Horn of Africa Complex Emergency

July 5, 2006

Several successive seasons of failed rains, including the critical October to December 2005 deyr season, have resulted in a humanitarian emergency across pastoralist areas of the Horn of Africa in early 2006. USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) estimates that more than 7 million people currently face crisis conditions, with the largest numbers affected in the region spanning southern Somalia, northern Kenya, and southern and southeastern Ethiopia. Relief efforts have been hampered by insecurity, which is limiting humanitarian access throughout Somalia and parts of Somali and Oromiya regions, Ethiopia. Resource-based conflict—inter-clan, as well as cross border—has also reportedly risen in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, as water, food, and forage supplies became depleted during the long dry season.

The U.S. Government's (USG) ongoing assistance programs in the Horn of Africa enabled aid agencies to respond quickly to the current emergency. To date in FY 2006, the USG has committed nearly $226 million for immediate life-saving interventions, targeting the most affected areas in the Horn of Africa with water and sanitation, health, nutrition, and food assistance.