The combination of drought and the war in Ukraine has left thousands in the horn of Africa struggling for survival. Many countries in Africa rely on grain imports from Ukraine to meet local demands. So, following the war in Ukraine, countries were unable to import gains from Ukraine.
However, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, a UN chartered humanitarian ship carrying about 23,000 tons of wheat left southern Ukraine for Africa. According to the Ukrainian infrastructure ministry, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ethiopia is the destination of the ship. Just before the departure of the ship, Kubrakov said,
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“We are at the pier housing the ‘Brave Commander’ ship which is being loaded. This is the first ship to arrive at Odesa ports following the World Food Programme intervention. After loading the ship, it will head to Africa. Its journey will end in Ethiopia where the 23,000 tons of grain it is carrying will be offloaded.”
The UN-mediated deal to resume grain export from Ukraine’s Black Sea was reached on July 22, 2022. This will go a long way in addressing the global grain disruption which has sent food prices skyrocketing across the globe. The ‘Brave Commander’ is one of the first cargo ships to sail the Black Sea since February when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The severity of the drought in the horn of Africa
“Parched land. Overwhelming crop losses. Hundreds of dead livestock. Malnourished and starving children.”
Those were the words the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) used to describe the desperate situation in the horn of Africa. Due to the rising global grain prices, more families were unable to meet the needs of their families and herds. This has led to a desperate food crisis in the region.
In addition to climate change, swelling conflict and unproductive farming due to successive rain failures have made the food crisis worse in the horn of Africa. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 346 million Africans are impacted by the food crisis.
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Somalia and Kenya are the two countries in East Africa badly affected by the drought. There are concerns that 90% of entire Somalia is facing drought. Consequently, 1.4 million children are at risk of severe malnutrition. The crisis has also driven 270,000 people out of their homes in search of food.
The position of the African Union in combating drought in Africa
Since the crisis from the drought in the horn of Africa came to the fore, many have been asking what the African Union has been doing to remedy the situation. It often seems as if the African Union is always sitting on the sideline and waiting for Western Organizations to solve African problems.
While that seems to be the popular sentiment, the African Union has been working hard on ways to mitigate the drought crisis in the horn of Africa and other regions. This includes calling on farmers on the continent to boost agricultural production.
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In April 2022, a team from the African Union Commission (AUC’s) Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Unit paid a visit to three provinces in Southern Angola to access the drought situation. This was a joint mission with the Red Crescent Societies and the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Perhaps, the problem is that the African Union lacks a credible media team that properly disseminates the actions taken by the AU. Whatever the problem may be, the AU need to be more proactive and spearhead disaster management on the continent rather than leaving the bulk of the actions to international organizations.
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