Welcome to this podcast from the International Crisis Group. I’m Kimberly Abbott. Famine has returned to the Horn of Africa. Two years of poor rainfall, insecurity, and rising world food prices have led to widespread malnourishment in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. In Somalia, the epicenter of the crisis, 3.7 million people are in need of immediate food aid and thousands have already died in the last few months alone. But the presence of Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist militant group in control of much of the affected territory has complicated the international humanitarian response.

I spoke earlier with  EJ Hogendoorn Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project Director to discuss the factors underlying the famine and how the international community should react.