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The United States will buy about 150,000 tons of grain from Ukraine in the coming weeks to ship to people facing starvation and severe drought in the Horn of Africa, officials said.
The grain will be shipped from ports no longer blocked by the ongoing war, David Beasley, head of the World Food Program, told The Associated Press.
The planned shipment is one of several grains being pursued by the United Nations agency to fight hunger, the amount of which the first ship from Ukraine arranged by WFP is currently carrying to the Horn of Africa. It’s more than double.
One of the areas depleted by severe drought is northern Kenya. Their completely arid communities could face yet another unsuccessful rainy season in the coming weeks, plunging parts of the region into famine, especially neighboring Somalia. The World Food Program estimates that thousands have died and about 22 million people have gone hungry.
No quick solution to global food crisis sparked by Ukraine war, experts say
Beasley said it was “highly likely” that WFP would declare a famine in the coming weeks. He described the situation facing the region as “a full storm on top of a full storm, and drought-prone areas have been driven by high food and fuel prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine.” I’m having a hard time coping.
First aid ships from Ukraine are carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain, enough to feed 1.5 million people completely for a month, Beasley said. The wheat is scheduled to dock in Djibouti later this week and the wheat will be transported overland to northern Ethiopia. In northern Ethiopia, millions of people in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions are facing not only drought but deadly conflict.
Ukraine was the source of half of the grain WFP purchased last year to feed 130 million starving people. Russia and Ukraine signed a deal last month between the United Nations and Ankara that will allow Ukrainian grain exports for the first time since Russia’s invasion in late February.
But the slow reopening of Ukrainian ports and the cautious movement of mined cargo ships across the Black Sea will not solve the global food security crisis, Beasley said. He called on richer countries, including the Gulf states and China, to provide more assistance.
Despite hopes that grain will leave Ukraine and the rise in global markets will begin to stabilize, the world’s most vulnerable people face a long and difficult recovery.
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Beasley predicted that the global food crisis could last at least another 12 months, and perhaps several more years for the poorest, even if the drought were to end.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.