iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Pressure mounts on the former PM after 33 of his supporters handed over to the army to face trial in military courts
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Somalis suffering from climate crisis they did nothing to create: UN chief
Famine threatens to follow drought that killed 43,000 in 2022; nearly half the population needs urgent humanitarian aid
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrives for a news conference at the UN Base in Halane Mogadishu, Somalia, on Friday. — Reuters
Somalia is suffering from the impact of a climate crisis it has done almost nothing to create, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, as a full-blown famine threatens to follow a drought that killed 43,000 people last year.
Some 8.3 million Somalis, almost half the population, require urgent humanitarian assistance, Guterres said, adding that only 15% of the country's $2.6 billion aid requirement for this year has been met.
"When famine looms, this is totally unacceptable," Guterres told reporters in Mogadishu.
He was speaking after visiting a camp in Baidoa, south-west Somalia, for people displaced by the drought and by fighting between Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate, and government forces.
"It is unconscionable that Somalis, who have done almost nothing to create the climate crisis, are suffering its terrible impact," Guterres said. "Climate change is causing chaos."
After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, the drought has displaced 1.4 million Somalis, with women and children making up 80% of them, he said.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which sets the global standard for determining the severity of a food crisis, said last December that famine had been temporarily averted but warned the situation was getting worse.
A major government offensive backed by allied clan militias has captured around a third of aAl Shabaab's territory, the US ambassador to Somalia told Voice of America in March.
The government claims to have killed 3,000 al Shabaab fighters since the campaign was launched last year, but the militant group has repeatedly shown its ability to strike back in deadly attacks on Mogadishu.
The army and its clan allies are expected to start a second phase of the operation, backed by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), in the coming weeks.
More news from World
Sources say the two sides reached agreement on key issues, such as spending caps and funding for the Internal Revenue Service and the military
The 70-year-old man escapes unhurt after the incident in Kerala
Man who drove into gates of British PM Rishi Sunak's residence, office held on suspicion of dangerous driving
India tops the list with 11 million followed by China with 5.8 million, Russia with 1.9 million, Indonesia with 1.8 million, Turkey with 1.3 million and the United States with 1.1 million
It was the first time a Republican had won the Democratic-leaning county in 20 years, and DeSantis did it by winning 62% of the Hispanic vote
The eyepiece features a camera, a microphone and an internal projector screen where words are displayed in front of the user's eye
53% increase in civilian deaths in 2022 compared to the year prior, with nearly 17,000 civilian deaths recorded across 12 conflicts: Report