Somalia’s drought once again has thousands on the move

Somalia’s drought once again has thousands on the move.
In this photo taken Tuesday, March 28, 2017, newly displaced Somali mother Sahra Muse, 32, comforts her malnourished child Ibrahim Ali, 7, in their makeshift shelter at a camp in the Garasbaley area on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia.
Drought-stricken families facing a hunger crisis are on the move, trying to reach international aid agencies that cannot distribute food in areas under the control of al-Shabab, Somalia’s homegrown Islamic extremist rebels who are affiliated to al-Qaida.
With no food at the camp and no money for transport, Muse is preparing another day’s hike to the capital, Mogadishu, to help her son.
Somalia’s current drought is threatening half of the country’s population, or about 6 million people, according to the United Nations.
Drought-stricken families are on the move, trying to reach points where international aid agencies are distributing food.
Each day, dozens of new arrivals come into this camp.
So far, no food has been offered to him at the camp, he said.
He barely sleeps and when he does he has nightmares since his wife died of hunger on the trek to the camp.
“I had no other option but to leave,” Salah said, carrying one of his children near his newly erected hut.

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