2006 Horn of Africa food crisis USD to help fund its relief efforts in the region. 2006 Horn of Africa food crisis In 2006, an acute shortage of food affected the countries in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia), as well as northeastern Kenya. The United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated on January 6, 2006, that more than 11 million people in these countries may be affected by an impending widespread famine, largely attributed to a severe drought, and exacerbated by military conflicts in the region. Drought is a predictable event in the Horn of Africa, and when combined with other factors
Geography of Somalia the northeast, "Boswellia" and "Commiphora" trees are sources, respectively, of the frankincense and myrrh for which Somalia has been known since ancient times. A broad plateau encompassing the northern city of Hargeysa, which receives comparatively heavy rainfall, is covered naturally by woodland (much of which has been degraded by overgrazing) and in places by extensive grasslands. Parts of this area have been under cultivation since the 1930s, producing sorghum and maize; in the 1990s it constituted the only significant region of sedentary cultivation outside southwestern Somalia. The Haud south of Hargeysa is covered mostly by a semiarid woodland of scattered