Kenyan pastoralists helpless as cows die in unending drought
56-years-old pastoralist Ali Hacho Ali walks past the carcass of his dead cow following a prolonged drought near the Kenya-Ethiopia border in Eresteno village along the Wajir-Mandera border in Mandera region, Kenya. - REUTERS
TAKABA: Kenyan pastoralists are losing their herds as the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 40 years leaves pasture desiccated and cows with nothing to eat.
In Mandera County in northeastern Kenya, which borders Somalia and Ethiopia, herder Ali Hacho Ali, 56, said all but five of his herd of 70 cows had died.
"I have never witnessed such before," said Hacho Ali. "Our livestock has died and we are sick from malnutrition but we cannot see any support from the government."
The drought looks almost certain to persist, according to the World Meteorological Organization which said last week the Horn of Africa was entering its fifth consecutive failed rainy season.
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