MANDERA, KENYA: People in Mandera, Kenya’s northeastern part bordering Somalia and Ethiopia are struggling for survival due to the worst drought in decades in the region.
Home to approximately 1.2 million people, who mostly depend on their animals and farming, the region has been lacking rainfall for the last six-year. People said that most of the rivers originating from Ethiopia’s highlands have contracted. The locals said that pastures, where animals graze, have also been affected by drought in the region.
Mandera has received no rainfall so far in this season, which ends by December. People feared that if conditions do not change over the next months, all their livestock will perish. The farmers said that they have no other option but to emigrate to other parts of the region as there is no grass due to the ongoing severe drought in Mandera.
Kenya’s minister and drought
Villagers said that they have started drawing their drinking and cleaning water from the local well as the river around their homes has completely dried up because of drought. Residents added that they have started looking after their animals at home and feeding them the rice and maze they eat themselves because there is no grass in the land.
KENYA’s minister for water Muhammad Ali told Anadolu Agency that the locals did not want to leave the area, they (locals) lost 88 million US dollars in herding in the past several years because of drought. The minister said that 500 goats have died while as many as 200 small lakes have dried up due to the worst drought in the region. He said that there is a shortage of water in many regions and termed the situation as very difficult. He hoped that the Turkish government and people would extend their hand for dredging and the extraction of groundwater. — APP/AA
