New York, US (PANA) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said countries must work collectively to build resilience and prepare themselves against drought and its adverse effects on communities. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Ministers responsible for agriculture, livestock and arid lands in member nations of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Thursday called on UN agencies to support the bloc to establish a regional early warning system linked to mechanisms for early response to drought emergencies afflicting the region. Full text...

Durban, South Africa (PANA) - Severe drought developed in parts of East Africa in late 2010 and continued through most of 2011, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) disclosed Tuesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - An outbreak of measles and a likely flood threats could complicate and exacerbate the ongoing drought in Ethiopia, according to reports by various UN agencies. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday said that funding for relief efforts in the Eastern Horn of Africa was barely 50 per cent of announced needs. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday called for increased assistance to an estimated two million people affected by drought in Ethiopia. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN agencies and their partners are helping the Kenyan government to respond to food and water shortages that have hit several parts of the country as a result of a prolonged dry spell. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritius is presently facing a drought, worse than that of 1999, because of the summer rains expected in the country, deputy Prime Minister Rashid Beebeejaun, also Minister of Public Services said. Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- A Tunisian military plane, fully loaded with 15 tonnes o f food aid meant for Nigeriens affected by drought, was due for Niamey, the capi t al of the west African nation, on Wednesday, PANA learnt from official sources h e re. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) ha s raised an alarm over impending drought in 11 states in the Northern part of Nigeria due to reduction in rainfal l. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Climate experts have charged governments in the Greater Horn of Africa to put in place measures to mitigate the impending weather condit i ons as a result of the forecast that indicates that rainfall in the sub-region w i ll be insufficient. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde Johnson arrived here Thursday for a four-day visit to Ethiopia, during which she will review the emergency situation in drought affected areas. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Food prices in Ethiopia have continued to soar with reports of an alarming hike of the cost of the cheapest grain, maize, in some markets of the drought-hit Somali Region reaching 700 birr (about US$70) per 100-kg bag, up from about 350 birr (US$35). Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- The 14th follow-up meeting of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) opened here Monday, with several delegates representing various countries of the organisation in attendance, PANA reported. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Around 88,000 people in the drought-hit lowland agro-pastoral areas of Southeastern Ethiopia require emergency food assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Wednesday. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Member states of the Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) have set up a Committee for Sustainable Development in the Sahel (CDDS). Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The World Bank and the Kenyan government have signed a credit guarantee agreement under which the country will access US$60 million for drought intervention programmes, an official of the Bank said here. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- After a long spell of devastating drought in eastern and south-eastern Ethiopian regions of Afar and Somali, the rains have set in, regenerating the pasture and improving water availability, but also raising serious health concerns, according to relief agencies. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- In severely drought-hit southern Ethiopia, pastoralists in Borena zone of Oromiya Region are removing thatch to feed starving livestock, relief agencies have reported here. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Drought in northern Kenya and neighbouring Somalia has triggered a large-scale migration of people into south-eastern Ethiopia, where the humanitarian situation has deteriorated due to the adverse weather, reports from relief agencies said Monday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Wednesday that it was stepping up emergency operation to assist more than half a million famished people in areas hit by severe drought and armed violence in southern Ethiopia and Somalia. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- As drought in southern Ethiopia stretches the people's coping strategies to the limit, decreased attendance has forced local schools to close while the ranks of beggars in the streets swell. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Experts from Central and West Africa on Thursday continued an international forum here on drought and desertification in Central and West Africa meant to initiate a study between researchers and decision-makers on drought and desertification in both subregions. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan and World Food Programme (WFP) authorities have announced that 3. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- In response to drought in southern zone of Somali region, the Borena and Bale zones of Oromiya, Ethiopia, the United States, through the United States Agency for International Development, has added $2 million in funding to its existing, substantial food-assistance programme, the US embassy announced here Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said here Thursday that the drought currently ravaging parts of East Africa and the Horn of Africa regions was a result of loss of forest cover, grasslands and other key ecosystems. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Prolonged dry spell in Kenya's northern region has forced local authorities to petition commercial ranchers to allow pastoralists into their private holdings to save their livestock from perishing. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government's Food and Nutritional Security Technical Secretariat (SETSAN) announced on Friday that the number of people "vulnerable to immediate food insecurity" has risen to over 801,000 or 4. Full text...

Mogadishu- Somalia (PANA) -- Thousands of Somalis are suffering from a shortage of water and food due to drought which has hit large areas of southern Somalia, Information Minister Mohammed Abdi Hayir said Friday here. Full text...

Beira- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican President Armando Guebuza says drought in the central province of Sofala is worsening the level of poverty in the country. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- More than a quarter of a million households, or over one million people have been affected by drought in southern and central Mozambique this year, according to latest official figures. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambique's National Disaster Management Institute (INGC) said it would in partnership with UN agencies, continue to monitor the impact of drought in south and central parts of the country where some 150,000 people are currently receiving food aid. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- UNICEF has called for urgent emergency relief for thousands of Kenyan children at risk from continuing drought. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- About 600,000 people in Afar Region of eastern Ethiopia require immediate food relief assistance, according to reports by UN and non-governmental agencies operating in the drought-hit pastoral region. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Ethiopia's Somali region is threatened by a drought on the scale of previous disasters, says a United Nations rapid response report obtained here. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has appealed to donors to provide $3. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- China on Monday offered to help Kenya develop water conservation facilities to enable the country harvest and store rain water for use during the dry spells. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Drought has forced wild animals, including elephants, out of the Aberdare national park in central Kenya to invade farmlands and destroy crops in areas around the reserve. Full text...

Mogadishu- Somalia (PANA) -- What locals describe as an unprecedented drought has forced thousands of pastoralists in Somalia to move to less affected areas, especially along the border with Ethiopia. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The European Commission has approved a two-million-Euro humanitarian aid for drought victims in Lesotho and Swaziland, EU sources said in Brussels Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard and officials of aid agencies have expressed great concern about the worsening drought in northern Somalia. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The UN Humanitarian Coordinator Maxwell Gaylard and other senior officials have expressed "concern" over the deepening humanitarian situation in war-torn Somalia, now ravaged by drought. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Poor rainfall in four Mozambican provinces in the southern and central regions has left inhabitants still dependent on food aid, the Maputo daily "Noticias" reported Friday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Eastern Cape farmers are facing a state of emergency as they battle a regional drought, which has dried up boreholes and threatened their livestock. Full text...

Mbabane- Swaziland (PANA) -- Swaziland's National Disaster Task Force (NDTF) has convened an emergency meeting, warning that the country was heading for one of the worst droughts yet in its history. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The ecosystem of South Africa's Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, is seriously threatened by lingering drought, according to Park officials. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Officials at Kenya's drought early warning system have sounded an alert over looming drought in parts of Kajiado bordering Tanzania, following a prolonged dry spell in the largely arid and semi-arid district. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Using assistance from the Norwegian government, UNICEF has begun distributing water supply equipment in Ethiopia's drought affected regions where an estimated 4. Full text...

Addis Ababa Ethiopia (PANA) -- The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa has urged donor agencies and development partners to focus on bringing about sustainable development in Ethiopia. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Ethiopia's early warning system has come under severe criticism for ignoring the accumulated experience of peasants and pastoralists in predicting natural disasters. Full text...