Drought situation "increasingly desperate" - WFP

WFP has responded to a deteriorating drought situation in Djibouti by approving a US $2.7 million emergency operation to provide food assistance to 100,000 people affected, the agency announced last week. "Drought symptoms are clearly evident in all areas of the country," said Sanda Maina, WFP Country Representative in Djibouti, in a press statement. "Little rain has left watering holes at dangerously low levels and livestock has died either because there is a lack of pasture land or because it's drastically deteriorating ... The influx of nomadic families into the city shows their growing desperation." "In the districts of Ali' Sabieh and Dikhil, the situation is made even more difficult by the presence of displaced people from Somalia and Ethiopia," he added. WFP said its emergency operation would involve distributing 6,000 mt of food aid between now and the middle of June through the government's Office for Assistance to Refugees and Disaster Victims.