By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer NAIROBI, Kenya – Crops have shriveled, hundreds of cattle are dead and the World Food Program said Tuesday that 3.8 million Kenyans need emergency food aid because of a prolonged drought, which is even causing electrical blackouts in the capital because there’s not enough water for hydroelectric plants. With rivers thinning to a trickle and mountaintop glaciers shrinking, authorities this month began rationing power in the capital, darkening homes and businesses at least three days a week. In Nairobi’s posh, leafy neighborhoods, light bulbs flicker as generators rumble to life. Gym treadmills in luxury hotels jolt to a halt. The slums, where roughly half the capital’s 4 million residents live, are being hit the worst. Taps have run dry and residents often wait for days for trucks to deliver expensive potable water. … Prime Minister Raila Odinga this month warned of a “catastrophe” if seasonal rains don’t come in October ad November, expressing fear that inter-clan violence could ensue. Kenya’s grain harvest is expected to be 28 percent lower. Food prices have jumped by as much as 130 percent. … In the parched countryside, its even worse. In many places, the air stinks of rotting cattle carcasses. Peruan Lesakut, a Maasai herdsman, said he had 120 cattle in July but now has only 56, all emaciated. “I cannot sell my animals,” he said. “I will stay here until they all die.” … Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist, told The Associated Press she is worried about Kenya’s future. “We see carcasses of animals everywhere,” said Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in conservation, women’s rights and clean government. “You could easily see carcasses of people everywhere.” …
Kenya’s rural drought hurts city dwellers via The Oil Drum
