Drought Parches Southern Africa, Millions Faced With Hunger

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An estimated 45 million people are threatened with hunger due to a severe drought that is strangling wide stretches of southern Africa.

International aid agencies said they are planning emergency food deliveries for parts of South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other countries hard hit by a combination of low rainfall and high temperatures as summer approaches in the southern hemisphere.

The U.N. World Food Program said southern Africa has received normal rainfall in just one of the past five growing seasons, which particularly hits small-scale farmers who depend on rain for their crops. The U.N. food agencies plan to distribute emergency food aid to 11 million people in the coming months.

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, a bird stands on a sun-baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, an elephant walks next to a carcass of another elephant in an almost dry pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, the carcass of a Buffalo lies on the edges of a sun baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, the carcass of a buffalo lies on the edges of a sun baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, a baboon sits under a tree in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word “mana” means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this Oct, 27, 2019, photo, the carcass of an Elephant lies on the edges of a sun baked pool that used to be a perennial water supply in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, buffaloes and many other wildlife are stressed by lack of food and water in the park, whose very name comes from the four pools of water normally filled by the flooding Zambezi River each rainy season, and where wildlife traditionally drink. The word "mana" means four in the Shona language. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)