"Almost half the population facing food shortages"

A significant percentage of Djibouti’s population could face food shortages due to drought, rising prices with declining remittances, and high levels of livestock deaths, an early warning information service has warned.

An estimated 284,000 people (about 45 percent of the 632,000 population) were at risk, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), which is funded by the US Agency for International Development, said.

Of these, about 130,000 people, including 50,000 in the capital of Djibouti, required emergency food assistance, while 25,000 children under-five required supplementary or therapeutic feeding.

"Significant food deficits exist in all pastoral areas due to a combination of three consecutive below-average rainy seasons, extremely high prices for staple foods, declining remittances, and high levels of livestock mortality (40-50 percent)," the network noted. "The situation is critical, and pre-famine indicators have been observed."

The warning came after the UN World Food Programme, which provides food aid to thousands of Djiboutians, warned of breaks in its food pipeline for the period May to October. Full rations were only being supplied in the northwestern zone, the most vulnerable and food-insecure areas, it said on 1 June.

FEWS Net also warned that the recent border conflict between Eritrea and Djibouti could aggravate the food situation for rural and poor urban households.

"Approximately 1,000 people have been displaced in and around the conflict zone, and as many as 22,000 could be displaced, should the violence worsen," it stated in an alert.

Tension between the two neighbours flared up when Eritrean troops attacked the northern territories of Doumeira and Ras Doumeira in early June. Several casualties were reported before the situation calmed down on 12 June.

"The situation has remained calm, but both countries are sending additional troops to the area, threatening renewed violence," the network warned. "The border conflict could have important food security implications for Djibouti and the greater East Africa region."

Djibouti's pastoral communities, which rely on Eritrean markets for food, it added, were already affected and reportedly fleeing to Khorangar, Obock City, or migrating further inland.

A semi-desert state that experiences frequent droughts and imports all its staple foods, Djibouti is classified by the UN as both a least developed and a low-income, food-deficit country.

eo/mw