UN cry for drought aid

Aid for victims of a drought across East Africa will run out next month unless help arrives in the next 10 days, a top UN food official said.

"This is as bad as it gets. The consequences are absolutely catastrophic," said James Morris, executive director for the UN World Food Programme (WFP). He was speaking during a visit to El Wak, near Kenya's north-east border with Somalia, one of the areas worst affected by the drought.

"We will urgently need more help in the next 10 days because it takes time to buy, ship and distribute food. It is not something you can do overnight," Morris added.

Hundreds of people and tens of thousands of livestock have died from hunger and thirst across a vast region encompassing some of Africa's poorest and most arid zones.

The UN estimates as many as 11 million people are at risk of starvation.

The WFP needs US$225 million ($342.62 million) to buy 30,000 tonnes of food each month until February 2007, but has received only US$28 million, said WFP's Peter Smerdon.

Mohamed Ibrahim, 55, who has lost most of his livestock to the drought, said, "We don't just need food, we need other help as well."

- REUTERS