2006 Horn of Africa food crisis

In 2006, an acute shortage of food affected the countries in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia), as well as northeastern Kenya.

The United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated on January 6, 2006, that more than 11 million people in these countries may be affected by an impending widespread famine, largely attributed to a severe drought, and exacerbated by military conflicts in the region.

Crop failure, drought and depleted livestock herds led to famine conditions in the Cushitic-inhabited northern and eastern pastoral districts of Mandera, Wajir, and Marsabit.

Some 2.5 million people (10% of the population)[1] required food aid over the next six months, which led the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to declare a national disaster.

[1] The prolonged absence of a strong central government and poor transportation infrastructure also posed problems for the distribution of food aid.