The situation is worst in Somalia – the United Nations estimates that around 3.5 million people are threatened with starvation there, while over 400,000 people have sought refuge in the Dadaab refugee camp in neighboring Kenya.

Another 1,300 people arrive there every day, and there is hardly any room left for them in what has become the biggest refugee camp in the world. Resources there are now stretched so thin that workers there cannot help all of them.

This is why few people can understand the response of the Kenyan government – according the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, local authorities are holding up the completion of another camp to relieve the overcrowded one at Dadaab. According to press reports, this camp is already equipped with running water and electricity.

Fear of more refugees

Christoph Jaeger, a long-time United Nations worker, says, "Kenya is reluctant to create another camp that would encourage an even bigger flood of refugees." On top of that, there are, he says, already very big Somali communities in north-eastern Kenya and in the capital Nairobi.

But ordinary Kenyans have also begun to demand quicker and more effective action to relieve the current, which has reached several countries in East Africa. The famine has now spread to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, Sudan, as well as several parts of Kenya itself.

The root of the problem

Ida Odinga, wife of Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, recently added her voice to the public debate, saying that the root of the problem needed to be tackled. "Kenyans were warned of the threat of famine when the country was prosperous," she said. "We could have avoided this situation, where people are dying."

But what is the root of the problem, and can it really be handled? And why are people only talking about it now? Ida Odinga says there need to be long-term solutions. She says experts need to be called in to advise on securing a sustainable food supply in Kenya.

Jaeger, who has spent much time in the country, agrees. But he also believes that the current crisis cannot be assuaged without outside help. "With the scale of what is happening now, I fear that the best they can do will be a drop in the ocean," he says.

Concentrating on their own problems

A "drop in the ocean" is a good description of the aid currently promised by other African nations. The African Union (AU) has so far pledged barely half a million US dollars (350,000 euros) to fight the famine. The UN estimates the total cost of helping the twelve million people affected by the famine is $2.5 billion.

The AU has called another donors summit in Addis Ababa next week, where representatives of industrialized countries have also been invited, as well as leaders of African nations.

But the East African states all have their own problems to worry about, according to Abdi Osman, a Somali who works for the German-based charity "Wir für Somalia" (Us for Somalia). "We Somalis need to develop regional cooperation with our neighbors, particularly Ethiopia and Kenya," he told Deutsche Welle. "That applies to issues of security as well as economic cooperation." He believes that will help to guarantee a long-term food supply in the Horn of Africa.

There is no shortage of suggestions of how to prevent future catastrophes, but it's unclear how many of them can or will be implemented. Some people in the region have stopped waiting for the politicians to act. Following an initiative started by a mobile phone network provider, Kenyans citizens have now donated over $700,000 (490,000 euros) in a few days alone.

Author: Katrin Ogunsade / bk
Editor: Michael Knigge