Somalia’s worst drought in four decades means millions need aid

It has not rained on Habiba Maow Iman’s farm in southern Somalia for two years. Her animals are dead; her crops failed.

Wrapped in a shawl stamped with rows of white flowers, the 61-year-old is one of tens of thousands seeking aid on the outskirts of Baardheere town.

The Horn of Africa region is facing the driest conditions in more than four decades after three consecutive rainy seasons failed, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP).

“We fled from the drought,” she said, surrounded by domed huts built with a patchwork of cloth and plastic sheeting. “Every day I go out and knock every house in the town to beg something for the children to eat.”

Somalia has experienced a series of catastrophic droughts in the last decade.

Global weather patterns indicate that the rains are likely to fail again this year, according to the Famine Early Warning System Network