Six-month-old Hamse hangs limply in her mother’s arms as she has to be measured by doctors. The meter turns red and shows what everyone can see: she is malnourished and sick.
For the countries of the “Horn of Africa”, the eastern tip of the continent, the drought is worse than in four decades. In the shadow of the war in Ukraine, famine has emerged in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Somalia.
The IDP camps are filling up. They flee from drought, exacerbated by climate change.
– It’s completely quiet in the fields. You don’t hear the game sound. The children started dying. They are so tired they can’t bear to cry.
This is how photographer Håvard Bjelland describes Haji Kheir camp in Puntland in Somalia, where he was recently in charge of Church’s Aid. Many of the photos in this case are from that trip.
– I’ve seen a lot of bad things, but this is one of the worst. People wait for help or die, she says.
Below: The map shows the areas of Somalia where deadly hunger threatens
Double that of 2019
More than 200 humanitarian organizations have recently raised the alarm: every four seconds a person dies of hunger.
345 million people are suffering from acute hunger, and that’s more than double what it was in 2019, according to an open letter presented by humanitarian organizations around the world at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Somalia is the hardest hit, measured in terms of population.
And one of those who is sick is little Hamse, who had his thin arm measured by the doctors when the Church’s rescue visited the camp.
Doctors tried to give her high-calorie porridge. But it is too weak to absorb nutrition.
The mother, Caasho Adan Hassan (30), told Norwegian Church Aid that the family does not have enough food or water. Before they got to the rent, they had 200 animals grazing. Now only a few sick and dying animals remain.
Both humanitarian organizations and several international news agencies have discussed the famine disaster in Somalia. In late September, the AP news agency sent out several photos showing cattle dying from drought.
First the animals die …
Photographer Håvard Bjelland saw numerous dead animals during his trip to Puntland. In areas affected by famine it is a very serious sign.
– People know that animals die first. Then people start dying, she says.
Jørgen Haldorsen, who heads the Norwegian Red Cross’s international programs and preparedness department, returned home from a trip to Somaliland last week. He also recently traveled to Kenya.
– It’s a desperate situation. Men are looking for pastures for cattle and mothers are often left alone. Without food for their children. There is dramatic malnutrition among children, Haldorsen tells VG.
The drought has also caused the sinking of the aquifers. As a result, wells dry up and even those who are starving are lacking drinking water.
In the country close to Somalia, Kenya, the Turkana region is also severely hit by drought. The Norwegian Red Cross met the mother of four, Lochuch Nabuin Awose.
– Even if they cry because they are hungry, there is nothing I can do for them. There is no hope. There is nothing left but death, the mother told the organization.
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– The global situation with higher food and fuel prices means that people are even more dependent on their livestock. But their animals die, says Haldorsen of the Norwegian Red Cross.
– Do you think the drought is due to climate change?
– There is no doubt about that. Those we meet tell of more extreme weather conditions. Drought periods are worse than before, but when it rains first it is more intense, riverbeds are hard and the risk of flooding increases.
The first indications of the development of a very serious crisis in Somalia came in June. Then the AFP news agency released these images of malnourished children in a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia:
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In early September, the United Nations Martin Griffiths summit visited Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
– Hunger is upon us and we are now receiving the latest warning, Griffiths, who is the head of the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA), Martin Griffiths, said at a press conference in Mogadishu.
He pointed out that four failed rainy seasons in a row, several decades of wars and conflicts, large displacements of people and economic problems are pushing people to the brink of starvation.
It has been warned that 1.5 million children, one fifth of Somalia’s children, are at risk of severe malnutrition and hunger.
Fear of massive death
One of the doctors in the camp that Church Aid visited in Puntland, Dr Hassan Isse, seconded from the Ministry of Health of Somalia, tells the organization that 80 percent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished.
– They have little or nothing to resist when disease hits them. Five young children have already had to give up and are now buried, she says in a written statement sent through Church’s Aid.
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– If the rain does not stop now and massive outside help arrives, we will lose control and see a massive death in this camp, but also in other and large parts of Somalia in the coming months, says the doctor.
The AP news agency visited a refugee camp for drought victims outside Mogadishu, Somalia, in early September.
There they met Fatuma Abdi Aliyow. She was sitting on the ground in front of two small mounds of earth.
The graves of his two young children, who died of malnutrition.
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Hunger is spreading
The world food shortage, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has led to a sharp rise in prices and hunger on the other side of the continent as well, in Nigeria.
Doctors Without Borders documented severe food shortages, particularly affecting young children, in northwestern Nigeria, where more than 115,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition.
– With increasing uncertainty, climate change and global food price inflation in a post-pandemic world, we can only imagine this crisis will get worse, says Simba Tirima, country manager at Doctors Without Borders in Nigeria.
In the state of Zamfara there is a 64% increase in malnourished children compared to last year. In the Mashi area, June data shows that over 30% suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
