UN: East Africa braces for worsening El Niño conditions - Audio
Source(s):
United Nations - Headquarters
Photo by Flickr user Oxfam International CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfam/5929966378/
The number people who do not have enough to eat in East Africa could rise by more than 80 per cent in the coming months due to weather variations brought on by the climatic event known as El Niño.
The UN estimates that more than 22 million people in the region might need food assistance in the first quarter of 2016; up from 12 million at the start of this year.
So far, El Niño has already caused drier than average conditions in Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and parts of South Sudan, but also flooding in Somalia and Kenya.
Priscilla Lecomte has been speaking to Julius Kabubi, a programme analyst for the UN office on disaster risk reduction (UNISDR), who warns that "the worst is still to be seen."