Horn of Africa

Tony Karumba

In 2011, the eastern Horn of Africa was reeling from the region’s most severe drought in 60 years. Crops failed, livestock died, and prices in local markets were too high for most people to buy what was needed to feed their families.

And in Somalia, more than 20 years of conflict, combined with severe drought and restrictions on humanitarian access, created an unabated humanitarian crisis.  On July 20, 2011, the United Nations declared that famine conditions were present in two areas of southern Somalia, and famine conditions spread to four additional areas of southern Somalia by mid-September 2011.

At the height of the crisis, more than 13 million people – greater than the populations of Los Angeles and New York City combined – were in need of life-saving assistance in Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

The outpouring of humanitarian assistance from around the world helped provide food, water, shelter, health care, and other life-saving aid to those in need across the Horn.  Due in large part to the vast humanitarian assistance, famine was no longer present in Somalia by mid-February 2012.

Progress has been made over the last year, yet some 9 million people are still in need of assistance in the Horn of Africa. The 2011drought left many families with next to nothing, and they continue to struggle in 2012. Conditions across the region remain at crisis and emergency levels, and these levels are expected to continue through at least September 2012.  In Somalia, mortality rates are still among the highest in the world, and the fragile gains that have been made could backslide if robust humanitarian assistance is not sustained.

The United States remains the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Horn of Africa, providing more than $1.24 billion to help those in need since 2011. 

Latest Horn of Africa Fact Sheet

Horn of Africa Fact Sheet #29 (358kb PDF) and map (1.41mb PDF)