La famine a tué 258 000 Somaliens dont 133 000 enfants en 19 mois

May 2, 2013

French Article Translation of the Week

"La famine a tué 258 000 Somaliens dont 133 000 enfants en 19 mois"

"La crise alimentaire qui a frappé la Somalie entre octobre 2010 et avril 2012 a causé la mort d'environ 260 000 personnes dont la moitié sont des enfants de moins de cinq ans, selon un rapport de l'ONU pour l'alimentation publié ce jeudi."

"The food crisis in Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012 caused the death of about 260,000 people, half of whom are children under five years, according to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation published on Thursday."

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original version on France24.

Nearly 260,000 Somalis, half of which are young children, have died of hunger between October 2010 and April 2012 during a severe food crisis that resulted in six months of starvation, according to a UN report released on Thursday.

"The famine and severe food insecurity in Somalia have killed some 258,000 people between October 2010 and April 2012, including 133,000 children under five years," according to a report by FAO, the UN Organization for Food and Agriculture, and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-Net), funded by the United States.

According to this "first scientific assessment" of the balance of the food crisis, "4.6% of the total population and 10% of children under five died in southern and central Somalia."

In the regions of Lower Shabelle, Mogadishu, and Bay, the hardest hit, the food crisis has killed 18%, 17%, and 13% of children under five years, respectively. Hunger caused "about 30,000 deaths (...) per month between May and August 2011," according to the study.

"These figures are in addition to 290,000 deaths which allegedly occurred in the area during the period. This number, including deaths related to the conflict, represent a mortality rate that is at twice the average for Sub-Saharan Africa," say the authors of the study.

This balance is higher than the 1992 famine in the country, alleged to have killed 220,000 people in twelve months, but "the previous famine is considered more serious because a greater percentage of the population had died," they continued.

The famine in Somalia between mid-2011 and early 2012 hit about 4 million people, or half of the Somali population.

Mainly caused by the severe drought that affected the entire Horn of Africa at the time, the food crisis has been exacerbated by Somalia's catastrophic security situation with chaos and civil war taking over since the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991.

The recent rout of the Islamist Shebab militants and the election of new authorities in September raised hopes of stabilizing Somalia and providing a legitimate central government, of which it has been deprived for 22 years.

Click here to read the full United Nations Report on ReliefWeb.