The 2011 drought across the Horn of Africa was, in some places, the worst to hit the region for 60 years. Three countries were hit by the drought: Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Growing insecurity in Mali and northern Nigeria is disrupting the supply of food to communities suffering from a major food crisis affecting 13 million people in West Africa, said international aid agency Oxfam today.

Humanitarian actors are concerned by the early depletion of food reserves of many Nigerien families and warn of the risk of aggravation of the food and nutrition crisis if the aid response is not rapidly reinforced.

Some 13 million people are at severe risk from a food crisis which is set to escalate into a full scale humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa if urgent action is not taken.

Musician Baaba Maal visited Mauritania where a food crisis now affects one in four people across the country. Oxfam is calling for urgent interventions to avoid the worst over the coming months, as well as long-term investments to strengthen the resilience of populations.

Estimates of people in need of assistance in the Sahel increases to over 11 million people, as agency warns humanitarian efforts need to be stepped up in the coming weeks.

The FSNAU has announced that the famine status in Somalia has ended.

More than 13 million people are still affected by the crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa, according to a new report by the international aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children.

Millions of people in West Africa could be protected from a serious food crisis if preparations are scaled up across West Africa, Oxfam said today.