Drought deepens hunger as aid cuts bite in northern Kenya

Four years after a record drought devastated northern Kenya, failed rains are once again causing starvations, with aid cuts forcing agencies to scale back their efforts and feed fewer people.

In the barren plains of Turkana county, 76-year-old widowed grandmother Echakan Amaja sits outside her mud hut in Loperot village, surviving on foraged gingerbread fruit and the scant aid rations she can get her hands on.

The family's difficulties have mounted after her son was killed a fortnight ago in a cattle rustling raid while herding animals. All their livestock was stolen in the raid.

"When my livestock were stolen by bandits, all my grandchildren came back home," Amaja told Reuters, explaining how she now has the responsibility for feeding her five daughters and seven grandchildren.

The family struggles to get by on foraged fruit, and the roughly 43.2 kg of food rations and 3.2 litres of oil they get from the United Nations' World Food Programme per month.

Kenya's National Drought Management Authority said in December last year that more than nine counties in the country - mostly concentrated in the north and the east - were facing emerging drought conditions, which could sharply affect food security, water access and pasture availability.

The agency has also warned that recurrent droughts were increasing competition for scarce resources and raising the risk of violent conflict as the crisis spreads to areas that have not previously faced dry conditions.

Sarah Ayodi, the head of WFP's field office in Turkana, told Reuters that 333,000 people in the county required food aid, but said the agency would not be able to support them after next month.

In August last year, Save the Children reported that at least four African countries, including Kenya, would run out of specialised life-saving food for severely malnourished children due to shortages caused by aid cuts.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has slashed humanitarian assistance, and other Western powers have also been cutting funding as part of longer-term reductions.

DROUGHT IS NOT EVEN SPARING WILD FRUITS

Some families in Turkana say that even the wild fruits, which have traditionally helped them through lean periods, are disappearing or shrivelling due to drought. Asinyen Akol, 81, described the current dry spell as unprecedented in her lifetime.

"This year is so bad that this is the worst drought I have ever experienced. You can't survive here because of drought ... even trees and wild fruits are nowhere to be seen, not even a green leaf," Akol said.

The drought has also left a visible trail of loss in Kenya, with cattle carcasses seen across landscapes inhabited by pastoralists.

The crisis has also hit other countries in the Horn of Africa, with Somalia declaring a national drought emergency in November after recurrent seasons of poor rainfall.

The WFP warned last month that millions of Somalis were grappling with severe hunger, with almost half of all children malnourished and in need of urgent treatment.

-Reporting by Jefferson Kahinju and Thomas Mukoya; Writing by Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Editing by Anil D'Silva/Reuters