Aid agencies says 3.5 million Kenyans face starvation

Published: 2006-03-10

LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic aid agencies in Britain and the United States say as many as 3.5 million Kenyans face a severe food emergency because of several seasons of drought. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, an agency of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said millions of Kenyans could starve to death unless emergency food supplies are delivered soon. Dominic Stolarow, a CAFOD humanitarian officer who has been visiting the worst-affected areas in the northeastern part of the country, said Kenya is also facing its most severe drought since 1971. "Cattle die first in times of drought as they can only go for up to three days without water," he said in a March 7 statement. "In some villages I went into I saw carcasses just piled up," he said. " There is very little people can do once they have lost their livestock." The famine and drought have been caused by consecutive poor rainy seasons.

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