The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has warned of “potential famine” in the Horn of Africa. Addressing a US State Department meeting this week, USAID representatives said 15 million people in six countries - Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti - were at risk due mainly to drought. Eight million of these were in Ethiopia alone. The current food shortages could not be defined as famine, but if the international aid effort was not sufficient, the world could be looking at another famine by July or August, similar to that of 1984, the USAID officials warned.
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