THE HALFAX HEIMDALL AUGUR

Somalia teeters on the brink of catastrophe as hunger crisis deepens ... FacebookTwitterPrintEmail “This is not a distant warning. This is a crisis that is unfolding right now and it's deepening quickly.” That’s the verdict delivered on Friday by World Food Programme (WFP) Assistant Executive Director Matthew Hollingworth upon his return from Somalia, where millions are once again being pushed toward the brink of famine. The UN’s emergency food agency is warning thatnearly six million people – roughly one in three Somalis – now face acute hunger, including two million already experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity, just one step away from famine. Around1.9 million children are acutely malnourished. According to WFP,the crisis is being intensified by global economic shocks linked to instability in and around the Strait of Hormuzand the wider Middle East crisis. Food prices have surged by as much as 70 per cent in some areas of Somalia, whilefuel prices have risen 150 per cent, driving up the cost of transporting aid and basic goods. Supply routes have also been disrupted, making humanitarian operations increasingly difficult as repeated droughts, conflict and displ…

Climate and Food Crisis in East & West Africa | Oxfam International The Horn, East, Central and West Africa are facing a profoundly alarming hunger crisis. More than 57 million people are facing hunger as climate extremes have caused widespread food and water shortages. Oxfam is on the ground responding but we urgently need your help to save more lives. Donate now A combination of climate extremes, Covid-19 and conflict A rapidly changing climate characterized by erratic rains in the Horn, East, Central Africa has prolonged a serious drought since 2021, compounding an already dire humanitarian situation caused by conflicts, COVID-19, and the worst plague of locusts in 70 years . Many harvests have failed and millions of livestock – which pastoralist families rely upon for sustenance and livelihoods – are emaciated or dead. Over 13 million people have been displaced in search of water and pasture, while millions of others had to flee their farmlands and homes because of conflicts. More than 44 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan and over 28 million people are facing severe levels of hunger. The impact of the war in Ukrai…

The 8 Countries Most Affected by Climate Change 23 August The 8 Countries Most Affected by Climate Change In regions around the world, the climate crisis is causing more frequent and intense extreme weather events. From droughts to hurricanes to floods, these climate extremes are driving more people into severe hunger and poverty. During a global food crisis – the likes of which we have never seen in modern history – the climate crisis is making an already dire situation even worse. How Does Climate Change Cause Hunger? We are living in unparalleled times. Rising global temperatures and changes in weather patterns are causing more frequent and intense heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events. We witnessed this trend last year when flash floods put one-third of Pakistan underwater and severe drought in the Horn of Africa pushed millions of people closer to starvation. Extreme weather events displace people from their homes, kill livestock, destroy vital infrastructure and farmland and often increase food prices. Communities are then cut off from reliable sources of food, farmers can no longer grow crops and families cannot afford basic m…

In Africa’s Sahel, conflict and climate change force millions from ... FacebookTwitterPrintEmail Nearly four million people across Africa’s vast semi-arid Sahel region have been uprooted by a volatile mix of conflict, hunger and climate change, the UN warned on Friday, describing an unfolding protection and survival crisis that is pushing families to flee repeatedly. The figure represents a two-thirds increase in displacement over the past five years, with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger at the epicentre of overlapping humanitarian emergencies. “Across the central Sahel, people are being driven from their homes by violence, insecurity, and the devastating effects of climate change,”saidAbdouraouf Gnon-Kondé, Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). “Women and children make up 80 per cent of the displaced population, and the protection risks they face – from gender-based violence to trafficking and forced recruitment – are worsening.” UN reports from the region note that entire communities having been emptied in Burkina Faso, northern Mali and western Niger as violence between armed groups, intercommunal clashes and military activity spreads…

Violence, Climate Shocks, and Hunger Push The Sahel To The ... Violence, Climate Shocks, and Hunger Push The Sahel To The Brink of Collapse Niger, Mayahi, Village of Koren Habdjia. At the village health centre supported by UNICEF, mothers come for consultations with their children. This health centre provides care for childhood illnesses, maternal health, and pregnant women. It treats children for malnutrition and also provides delivery services. Credit: UNICEF/Islamane Abdou by Oritro Karim ( united nations ) Wednesday, June 10, 2026 Inter Press Service UNITED NATIONS, June 10 (IPS) - Over the past few years, the humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel region has expanded considerably, largely driven by a surge of violence—particularly in the Central Sahel. Although the crisis has been described by the United Nations (UN) as having “largely faded from the headlines” since its wake in 2012, millions of people across the region are in dire need of humanitarian assistance as civilian displacement, climate shocks, and widespread hunger rapidly spill across borders. “The people of the Sahel are not on the sidelines of a global crisis; they are at the very heart of one of the world’s mo…

Violence roiling Nigeria extends beyond religious lines, amid a ... FacebookTwitterPrintEmail When the United States ordered airstrikes on Christmas Day against Islamist militants in northern Nigeria, officials in Washington said the action was aimed at protecting Christians facing threats of violence. The strikes thrust Nigeria’s long-running sectarian bloodshed into the global spotlight – and revived claims that a “Christian genocide” is unfolding in Africa’s most populous country. But in an interview, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country has toldUN Newsthat the current crisis extends far beyond any single community or conflict. Violence, he cautioned, has spread across much of the country, leaving millions displaced and fuelling what aid agencies describe as one of Africa’s largest – and most overlooked – humanitarian emergencies. “Security remains one of Nigeria’s major challenges,” said Mohamed Malik Fall, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator. “You can no longer associate it with a single region. It is almost everywhere.” The crisis began in the northeast in 2009, with an insurgency led by the jihadist group Boko Haram, later joined by splinter facti…

West Africa: Violence, Climate Shocks, and Hunger Push the Sahel to the Brink of Collapse [IPS] United Nations -- Over the past few years, the humanitarian crisis in Africa's Sahel region has expanded considerably, largely driven by a surge of violence--particularly in the Central Sahel. Although the crisis has been described by the United Nations (UN) as having "largely faded from the headlines" since its wake in 2012, millions of people across the region are in dire need of humanitarian assistance as civilian displacement, climate shocks, and widespread hunger rapidly spill across borders.

Extreme Poverty is Rising Fast in Economies Hit by Conflict, Instability Development Setbacks Mount as Frequency of Conflict Surges to 25-Year High WASHINGTON, June 27, 2025 — Conflict and instability are taking a devastating toll on the 39 economies afflicted by them, driving up extreme poverty faster than anywhere else, intensifying acute hunger , and pushing several key development goals farther out of reach, according to the World Bank’s first comprehensive assessment of their plight in the aftermath of COVID-19. As conflicts have become more frequent and deadly in the 2020s, these economies are falling behind all other economies in key indicators of development, the analysis finds. Since 2020, their per capita GDP has shrunk by an average of 1.8% per year, while it has expanded by 2.9% in other developing economies. This year, 421 million people are struggling on less than $3 a day in economies afflicted by conflict or instability—more than in the rest of the world combined. That number is projected to rise to 435 million, or nearly 60% of the world’s extreme poor, by 2030. “For the last three years, the world’s attention has been on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle Ea…

World Refugee Day - United Nations Development Programme World Refugee Day Climate chaos is displacing millions June 19, 2025 DIsplacement numbers are at a record high. Climate action measures must address the root causes. Photo: UNDP Sudan Author Shoko Noda UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Crisis Bureau Director Climate displacement is here, it is growing, and it is ripping apart lives across continents. Without serious investment in resilience, more lives will be lost, more communities uprooted, and more hard-won progress wiped out. We’re already seeing the fallout. Last October, Hurricane Milton forced nearly six million people in the United States from their homes, the highest storm related displacement ever recorded. In Brazil, floods engulfed an area the size of the United Kingdom, displacing 775,000 people. In Chad, more people were driven from their homes by flooding in one year than in the past 15 combined. By the end of 2024, there were 46 million people displaced by disaster. That’s nearly double the yearly average over the past decade. And it’s not just numbers: behind each one is a life derailed, a home lost, a future on hold. In Chad, more people were driven f…

Violence, Climate Shocks, and Hunger Push the Sahel to the Brink ... United Nations — Over the past few years, the humanitarian crisis in Africa's Sahel region has expanded considerably, largely driven by a surge of violence--particularly in the Central Sahel. Although the crisis has been described by the United Nations (UN) as having "largely faded from the headlines" since its wake in 2012, millions of people across the region are in dire need of humanitarian assistance as civilian displacement, climate shocks, and widespread hunger rapidly spill across borders. "The people of the Sahel are not on the sidelines of a global crisis; they are at the very heart of one of the world's most severe and neglected emergencies," said Charles Bernimolin, the regional head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for West and Central Africa. "Every funding gap has a human cost. When we cut a program, a child loses a meal, women and girls' protection, and a family loses hope. We cannot allow a financing collapse to become a death sentence for millions of people." On June 3, OCHA published the2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Overview(HNRO) for the Sahel, detailin…