Severe drought devastates kenya’s northeast as over 2 million face hunger and livestock deaths mount

A devastating drought is gripping northeastern Kenya, leaving more than 2 million people facing severe hunger while countless livestock perish in what experts describe as one of the region’s worst dry spells in decades. Cattle-keeping communities along the Somali border have been hit particularly hard, with shocking images of emaciated animals highlighting the crisis’s severity.

The current disaster mirrors the catastrophic 2020-2023 drought that killed millions of animals across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Climate change has fundamentally altered weather patterns in the Horn of Africa, with traditional rainy seasons becoming shorter and less reliable. The recent October-December wet season was among the driest ever recorded, leaving parts of eastern Kenya drier than they’ve been since 1981 during that critical period.

Ten counties across Kenya are now experiencing drought conditions, according to the National Drought Management Authority. Mandera County, which borders Somalia, has reached “alarm” classification status—the most severe drought category—characterized by critical water shortages, widespread livestock deaths, and child malnutrition. Four consecutive wet seasons have failed across the region, creating a humanitarian emergency that extends beyond Kenya’s borders into Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The crisis underscores the growing impact of climate change on East Africa’s pastoralist communities, who depend on livestock for survival. As animals—typically the first casualties of drought—continue to die in massive numbers, international attention and aid will be crucial to preventing the kind of famine that threatened Somalia during the last major drought cycle.