Kenyans Are on the Verge of Starving to Death

A malnourished boy sits with his mother at a Medicines sans Frontieres hospital during a visit by James Morris, executive director for the U.N.'s World Food Programme, to El Wak, near Kenya's north-east border with Somalia, which is one of the areas worst affected by the drought, March 4, 2006. Aid for victims of a drought across east Africa will run out in April unless help arrives in the next 10 days, Morris said on Saturday. (REUTERS/Tony Karumba/Pool)

Take a look at how much we're spending on the Iraq war and then think about this: a catastrophic number of Kenyans are on the verge of starving to death. The World Food Program has enough rice and maize to last until the end of April, but says it will run out of vegetable oil, beans and other staples by the end of this month.

The UN food agency said it has received only about a tenth of the funding it needs to feed the Kenyans and about 7.5 million people at risk elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.

UN officials said five years of drought have created some of the most dire situations in decades across a vast swath of northeast Africa.

The Kenyan government has declared a national emergency. Dozens of people have already died in northeastern and eastern Kenya, while dead cattle and other animals dot the landscape.

"This is as bad as it gets. The consequences are absolutely catastrophic," said James Morris, the agency's executive director, who visited some of the worst hit areas of Kenya on Saturday.

The World Food Program needs $255 million to buy more than 29,000 tons of food each month until February 2007. So far, it has only received $28 million. To donate, click here.

A malnourished boy sits with his mother at a Medicines sans Frontieres hospital during a visit by James Morris, executive director for the U.N.'s World Food Programme, to El Wak, near Kenya's north-east border with Somalia, which is one of the areas worst affected by the drought. (REUTERS/Tony Karumba/Pool)

Residents of El Wak sit in their hut in drought stricken Kenya, 04 March 2006. (AFP/File/Tony Karumba)