Drought causes thousands to flee Somalia

The United Nations is appealing for emergency aid for the Horn of Africa as one of the worst droughts in more than 50 years puts the lives of 10 million people at risk. The British government is now promising to lead the world's response with a $60 million contribution.
The expected rains across large areas of the region, including north east Kenya and large parts of Somalia, have failed, leading to widespread devastation of farmland, failed harvests and livestock deaths.
Thousands of people have left Somalia for Kenya, and are being housed in refugee camps.
“The violence and the war is affecting the people there as much as the drought,” says Catherine Carter of Save the Children.
She has recently returned from the refugee camp in Kenya.
“One lady who had fled across the border while very heavily pregnant said to me [she] could cope with the war just about, but [she] couldn’t cope with being hungry and not having any food,” Carter told Vatican Radio. “So it is the combination. They could deal with the hunger, or they could deal with this ongoing war and terror and violence, but they cannot deal with both of them.”

She said Save the Children has launched a campaign to help the refugees, who are still in a dire situation.

“They choose to flee to a refugee camp where the situation is hardly better than Somalia, to be honest,” she said. “They are living in extremely crowded conditions, with very limited access to food and water.”

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Catherine Carter: