The Borana people are currently experiencing a catastrophic humanitarian disaster. A pastoralist people, the Borana are one of two major Oromo subgroups found primarily in the Borena Zone, Oromia in southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya. 800,000 civilians in the Borena Zone are currently in desperate need of food assistance - nearly 50% of the 1.7 million population. 

"The people are unable to secure a daily meal. They have lost the means of securing it. People are starving to death, and are in need of life-saving assistance” - Dinka Dadi, a communications officer of the Arero district, Borena Zone (Addis Standard).

The southern regions of Ethiopia have faced four consecutive seasons of failed rain and are currently bracing for a fifth. Farming has been decimated by the driest conditions in 40 years, leaving millions exposed to perilous levels of food insecurity.

No relief is in sight, with forecasts showing the drought is likely to continue until at least mid-2023. The southern regions have already reached an "emergency" warning on the famine warning scale due to extreme food insecurity in drought-affected pastoral areas.

Food assistance is needed NOW to prevent an even more extreme outcome.

The facts:

Recent reports suggest that more than 17 million individuals in drought-affected areas throughout the Oromia, Somali, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’, and South-West regions of Ethiopia require assistance, and 3.5 million livestock have died.

With the conflict in Ukraine impacting wheat exports, and the international community’s focus on the northern regions of Ethiopia, not enough aid has been provided to the southern regions.

According to Save the Children,Ethiopia (Jan 13, 2023):

"There is no end in sight for the hunger crisis, and hope is slowly fizzling out as families enter the January to March dry season with little hope for rainfall... leading to a dramatic increase in the number of people in need of emergency food aid and driving many into catastrophic levels of hunger."

Drought isn’t the only problem facing the southern regions of Ethiopia. Political violence is further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation. In Oromia alone, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced due to either drought, conflict or both - and desperately require additional humanitarian assistance. 

What we're calling for:

Today, we ask you to sign this petition, which calls on the international community, particularly the UN, the EU, the US, and other governments who have taken an interest in the current crisis enveloping Ethiopia to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Borana people and across southern Ethiopia by:

• Scaling up the amount of humanitarian assistance provided to southern Ethiopia in response to the drought and conflicts, and ensure that any aid provided reaches those most in need across the country.
• Raising awareness of the increasingly dire humanitarian situation throughout southern Ethiopia.
• Conducting monitoring visits to those parts of southern Ethiopia that have been hardest hit by conflict and the drought, including the Bale, Borana, Hararghe, Arsi, and Guji zones of Oromia in order to assess the needs of communities.
• Pressuring the Ethiopian government to resolve hostilities in southern Ethiopia, particularly inside Oromia, as they have for the situation in northern Ethiopia.

To find out more head to ollaa.org