Nearly 64 mln people in need of emergency aid in Horn of Africa: UN

ADDIS ABABA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 64 million people in the Horn of Africa region will need emergency aid in 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) warned late Thursday.

In a press release, the UNOCHA warned that 25 million people in Sudan, 21 million in Ethiopia, 9 million in South Sudan, and 8.3 million in Somalia will need humanitarian assistance in 2024.

The UN report also said 700,000 children in war-torn Sudan face life-threatening malnutrition, while 1.65 million and 1.45 million children under five in South Sudan and Somalia, respectively, are acutely malnourished.

"High levels of acute food insecurity are prevalent in various parts of the region, following the El Nino-induced flooding in 2023, five consecutive below-average rainy seasons that resulted in one of the worst droughts in recent history as well as ongoing conflicts and economic challenges," the report further said.

The UN agency's report also said there is a window of opportunity to avert large-scale humanitarian disasters in some areas, mainly in Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia, if funding is urgently scaled up and humanitarian access is expanded.