DROUGHT conditions have left over two million people facing hunger in parts of Kenya, the United Nations said today.

Images of emaciated livestock in the arid area near the Somali border, part of a region hit hard by the effects of climate change, have shocked many people in recent weeks.

Rainy seasons have become shorter for some communities in recent years, exposing them to drought. Normally, animals are the first to die.

The livestock losses echo what happened between 2020 and 2023, when millions of animals died in the region, which extends from Kenya into parts of Ethiopia and Somalia. At the time, a famine predicted for Somalia was averted by a surge in international aid.

Four consecutive wet seasons have failed in parts of the Horn of Africa.

The wet season from October to December was one of the driest ever recorded, according to the United Nations health agency, leaving parts of eastern Kenya more parched than they have been in that season since 1981.

The suffering extends into Somalia, Tanzania and even Uganda, where many people are threatened by similar weather patterns and water shortages, the World Health Organisation said in late January.

Experts say the worsening climate emergency is behind much of what is happening.