New appeal to save Kenyan lives

By Adam Mynott
BBC, Nairobi

Maasai herders have gone to Nairobi to seek pasture

The government of Kenya has put out a new appeal for international aid to help millions of people threatened by drought and famine.

After an assessment carried out in the past month, it is now estimated that 3.5m people, most of them in the north and north-east, need emergency help.

The problems follow the failure of two rainy seasons in Kenya in the past 12 months.

The assessment was carried out by the United Nations, NGOs and officials.

Most of the people under threat of malnutrition and starvation are pastoralists who rely for food and income on their herds of cattle, goats and camels.

Hunger and misery ravage Kenya

In the past few weeks they have watched their stock dying by the thousands.

The threat became severe when rains expected in November and December failed almost completely.

The Kenyan government has now asked international donors to find $221m in emergency food relief.

Dozens of people have already died from hunger-related ailments.

The aid agency Oxfam has warned that unless help arrives soon, the drought could lead to the largest loss of life in Kenya since independence in 1963.