Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Although heavy winter rains have brought some relief to drought-stricken Cape Town, famous salvage expert Nick Sloane is pressing ahead with his plan to “capture” an iceberg and drag it to South Africa. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near East and North Africa region. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize, on Tuesday declared that the drought that has gripped the country has been declared a national disaster. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Cape Town, which has experienced a major drought on Wednesday, received a welcome reprieve with news that its taps will not run dry this year. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – In the aftermath severe rainfall deficits recorded by the end of January 2018 across the Southern African region, countries are undertaking assessments to ascertain the impact, which is expected to be significant, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Tuesday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The Western Cape, which is facing its worst drought in history, has called on President Jacob Zuma to declare a national disaster if the city of Cape Town runs out of water. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Southern Africa continues to recover from the disastrous 2015/2016 El Niño-induced drought, which by January 2017 affected about 41 million people across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – The United Nations and its humanitarian partners in Kenya have appealed for US$106 million to scale-up their response to the most urgent needs resulting from the egregious effects of the drought in northern Kenya. Full text...

Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) – In the wake of a severe drought in Somalia that has displaced more than 800,000 people, the United Nations migration and development entities are helping the Horn of Africa country enhance its national drought response capacity. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - An estimated 761,000 Somalis have been internally displaced by drought between November 2016 and June 2017, with more than 22,000 displacements recorded between 1 and 23 June this year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa reported on Tuesday. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Investing in preparedness and building the resilience of farmers is fundamental to facing situations of extreme drought, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN Migration Agency (IOM) is appealing to the international community for USS60 million to help displaced people and the communities hosting them in four of the worst affected countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Full text...

Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - The World Bank has extended a US$145.5 million loan to Botswana for construction of water reservoirs, which are expected to cushion the semi-arid southern Africa country from future droughts, Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said on Thursday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - To meet the emergency needs of over a million Somalis affected by drought, the UN International Migration Organization (IOM) has appealed to international donors for US$24.6 million in funding. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Despite robust food supply conditions, droughts are worsening food security across swathes of East Africa, and access to food has been dramatically reduced in areas suffering civil conflicts, a new United Nations report has found. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Commending the Ethiopian Government and humanitarian partners on the response to last year's El Niño drought that left 10.2 million people needing food assistance, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien have said the international community must show “total solidarity” with country as it faces a new drought. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Sunday visited Ethiopia's drought-stricken region of Oromia where he witnessed first-hand efforts under way to battle the effects of one of the most powerful El Niño events in recorded history. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa is experiencing its worst drought in more than a century, leaving crops ruined and threatening raise food prices. There are growing calls for government to declare a natural disaster. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN has stepped up its efforts to mitigate the effects of the worst Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in 30 years, with levels of acute need across all humanitarian sectors having already exceeded levels seen in the Horn of Africa drought of 2011, and which are projected to become far more severe in 2016, according to a new UN report. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Limited, a financial affiliate of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) of the African Union (AU), said Friday it will pay US $25 million in drought insurance claims to three countries of the Sahel this month. Full text...

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...