|TOP|Christian Aid recently welcomed the launch of a $500-million emergency fund by the United Nations but warned that the money must first reach the people of East Africa.

The funds follow Christian Aid’s recent warning that aid is failing to reach 1.5 million people facing the threat of starvation in drought-stricken Somalia.

The extensive drought sweeping across southern Somalia has forced at least 1,000 families to abandon their homes in Lower Juba and seek refuge in the port city of Kismayo, some 500 km south of the capital, Mogadishu, local leaders have said.

According to Christian Aid, the lack of rain across East Africa over the past two years has seen wells and watering holes dry up completely, with reports coming in daily of people dying of thirst and others being driven to drinking their own urine to survive.

|AD|Up to 80% of cattle herds have also died in the drought, as time begins to run out for the 11 million people at risk of starvation if the crisis continues according to UN estimates.

But while aid is beginning to arrive in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Djibouti, Somalia's dire security situation continues to make it virtually impossible for any agencies to operate safely in the area, according to Christian Aid.

United Nations reports that some 1.7 million Somalis need urgent aid due to the drought, which has been described as the country's worst in a decade. Some areas have recorded their driest months since 1961.

The Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported: “Given the significant possibility of a below normal outcome - combined with the current precarious humanitarian emergency in southern Somalia and the sustained possibility of widespread conflict - it is prudent for all stakeholders to prepare for a worst-case humanitarian and livelihood scenario.”