Southern African countries experiencing food insecurity: UN

The United Nations (UN) has warned that several southern African countries face severe food insecurity due to an El Niño-induced drought in the region.

The UN has identified up to 12 countries where some 1.1 million children under the age of five face severe acute malnutrition.

According to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has this year alone, allocated 29.4 million dollars to drought response in southern Africa.

“Almost more than 20 million people are experiencing crisis level of hunger in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Eswatini, Tanzania, Lesotho and Botswana,” says Dujarric.

This comes as several parts of the region have been impacted by the worst dry spell in more than 100 years with the lowest rainfall of the rainy season in 40 years.

He adds: “We along with our partners have launched flash appeals for four countries affected by El Niño.”

Drought | UN concerned about impact of El Nino weather phenomenon in SADC region