Judith Akolo in the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation: The IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center - ICPAC has predicted the end to the drought ravaging the vast part of the Horn of Africa region. Speaking in Entebbe, Uganda, at the release of the short rains seasonal forecast for the Horn of Africa region, the Director of ICPAC Prof. Laban Ogallo warned that the rains expected to begin this month will not be able to completely reverse the suffering of thousands of people considering it has been a prolonged drought.
"To be able to reverse the current situation, the region would need very heavy and prolonged rainfall to completely recover from the devastating drought," said Prof Ogallo. He added that it is the short rains season which lasts some three to four months preceding yet another dry spell that begins January through to March.
Ogallo however said that if the little rain expected is well utilized, it could alleviate suffering to some extent. He urged governments in the greater Horn of Africa to take advantage of the short rains in order to mitigate the sufferings of communities in Somalia, North Eastern Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, who have experienced the devastating drought.
The regional consensus climate outlook for the September to December 2011 rainfall season indicates increased likelihood of above normal to near normal rainfall. This condition will be experienced over the eastern parts of Southern Somalia, coastal, eastern and central Kenya as well as northeastern Tanzania....
Ali Hussein camp is one of several large camps for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) on the edge of Burao town, shot by Oxfam East Africa, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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