Northern Kenya faces hunger crisis as drought wipes out livestock

Children affected by the worsening drought due to failed rain seasons, sit outside their makeshift shelter at Sopel village in Turkana, Kenya September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

LODWAR, Kenya (Reuters) - In a dry river bed in Kenya's arid northwest, pastoralists dig ever-deeper pits in an anxious search for water, as the region suffers its worst drought in 40 years, which has wiped out livestock and crops, deepening a hunger crisis.

For the last four years the annual rains have failed across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia and forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes in search of food and water elsewhere.