The attack by the Mai-Mai militia which resulted in six Virunga National Park rangers losing their lives isn’t an isolated incident.
El Niño’s effects in the Horn of Africa. Somali children are the most affected
Il Corno d’Africa è in ginocchio per colpa di siccità e carestia. Sono 58mila i bambini che combattono, ogni giorno, contro la fame. È tutta colpa di El Niño.
From Ethiopia to Somalia, the El Niño climate phenomenon – linked to the extraordinary increase in oceans’ superficial water temperature that influences global weather and climate – is bringing drought and famine across the Horn of Africa.
Children are the most affected
58,000 Somali children could starve to death without urgent support, according to the United Nations. Somalia, especially the regions of Puntland and Somaliland, is facing one of the worst seasons in the country’s history due to the lack of rainfall that, in turn, force population to live in extreme conditions. “The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five years acutely malnourished,” said Peter de Clercq, the UN aid chief for Somalia.
![Lisa Sawyer - Leon Bridges [Coming Home]](/app/uploads/confine-somalia-kenya.jpg)
Millions of Somali people need humanitarian aid
However, not only children face this dramatic fate. In fact, 4.7 million Somali people are in need of humanitarian assistance, 950,000 of which struggle every day to meet their food needs. These data, collected on field by the UN, come after 4 years of drought and conflict that already caused over 250,000 deaths.
This year’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia provides 885 million dollars (792 million euros) of humanitarian aids to face the needs of 3.5 million people, which means reducing mortality rate due to preventable causes, providing basic services, and strengthening the protection of the most vulnerable people, such as the internally displaced people. There are 1.2 million Somalis who live at the borders, near or even beyond the border with Yemen.
Later in January, the UN first warned about the disastrous, if not inhuman, living conditions populations of the Horn of Africa are facing. In Ethiopia, over 10 million people (out of a population of 94 million people) live in severe food insecurity due to the worst drought in 30 years.
Activists hail the decision not to hold the 2023 World Anthropology Congress at a controversial Indian school for tribal children as originally planned.
This year has changed the face of humanity but could also mark the end of an unsustainable lifestyle. We look back at the top 10 news stories of 2020.
In Coronation, a documentary filmed by the people of Wuhan, the dissident Chinese artist documents the government’s rigid control during lockdown.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s biography is tied with that of her parents and the history of Myanmar (formerly Burma). A story marked by nationalism, Western influence and compromises with the military.
The story of Ang Rita Sherpa, the first person in the world to climb Mount Everest 10 times without supplemental oxygen, who died aged 72.
Photojournalist Livio Senigalliesi tells his story, from the Yugoslav Wars to the Balkan Route. And through two videos, one created with journalist Raffaele Masto.
The Louise Michel is the humanitarian rescue ship saving lives in the Mediterranean. Financed by the artist Banksy, it has found a safe port in Sicily.
We must listen to witnesses on the ground who are seeing abuse, duplicity, and the dereliction of duty firsthand. Our lives depend on their voices being heard. The op-ed by Sean Thomas, International Director of Investigations at Animal Equality.