Regional overview
The Horn of Africa region continues to experience the longest and most severe drought on record, threatening lives and livelihoods, including millions of refugees and internally displaced people. Relentless drought and high food prices have weakened many people’s ability to grow crops, raise livestock and buy food. The dramatic food insecurity situation in drought-affected areas is expected to persist, driving high humanitarian needs well through 2023, with forecasts predicting a sixth failed rainy season in March-May 2023. Harvests have yielded little and water sources have dried up. Conflict and insecurity continue to intersect with the drought emergency. As conditions continue to worsen, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee in search of safety and assistance.
According to UNHCR’s data on displacement and affected populations, by January 2023, some 1.75 million people had been internally displaced in Ethiopia and Somalia, while over 180,000 refugees have crossed borders from Somalia and South Sudan into drought-affected areas of Kenya and Ethiopia, joining a significant existing refugee population.
UNHCR is appealing for $137 million to respond to the immediate needs of affected populations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Response activities will be carried out under the Refugee Coordination Model and as mandated in the cluster response mechanism for IDP situations. This appeal has been aligned with the country-level Humanitarian Response Plans (for Ethiopia and Somalia) and inter-agency drought flash appeal (for Kenya) to the extent possible.
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees