21 Nov 2022

Africa correspondent Debora Patta - the brutality of drought and starvation in Somalia

From Nine To Noon, 9:45 am on 21 November 2022
(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 13, 2022 A woman carries a water container at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Baidoa, Somalia. - UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned on September 5, 2022 that Somalia was "at the door of famine" after being hit by four failed rainy seasons that has caused a devastating drought.
"Famine is at the door and we are receiving a final warning," Griffiths said at a press conference in Mogadishu, saying famine was likely in two areas in south central Somalia between October and December this year. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)

Photo: YASUYOSHI CHIBA

Debora has been in Somalia witnessing harrrowing scenes of famine and drought.

She says climate change induced starvation is killing children and almost half the 16 million people who live in Somalia are facing extreme hunger.

More than a third of the nation's 5 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. 

Debora Patta is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in South Africa.