Somalian President Declares National Disaster as Drought Engulfs Country

Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Tuesday declared a national disaster amid the ongoing drought in the country.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Eastern African states, such as Somalia, and southern part of the Arabian Peninsula are currently affected by a severe drought, which has put the lives of millions of people at risk.

According to the Somalian Mareeg news website, the national disaster was declared to respond to the emergency situation effectively and to reach the affected areas and individuals.

The media outlet added the president had also called on the international community, as well as on the country's businesspeople to participate in Mogadishu's efforts aimed at tackling the crisis situation.

Donate to help build a Water well in Somalia which has been hit by a severe drought affecting millions of people:https://t.co/DYRpCaXKpR pic.twitter.com/aTtfa2jfWM

— سيف الله (@BirdsOfJannah) 22 февраля 2017 г.

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement that up to 1.5 million people in Somalia were affected by the drought at the moment, adding that there was a risk of the third famine in the state during the last 25 years.