Watchdog: 2017 famine warnings at 'unprecedented' levels

The global requirement for food aid in 2017 is 'unprecedented', a US-based monitoring agency warned on Wednesday, as it forecasts increased famine across many Muslim-majority nations.

The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) has signalled that an estimated 70 million civilians will require food aid this year, a one-third increase since 2015.

"The combined magnitude, severity, and geographic scope of anticipated emergency food assistance needs during 2017 is unprecedented in recent decades," the FEWS NET said in its report.

Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen are all at risk of famine - defined as an "extreme lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death, and destitution are evident".

The report blames three main factors for the impending humanitarian disaster, including persistent conflict, drought and economic instability related to conflict.

According to UNICEF, at least 1,000 Yemeni children die from preventable diseases every week due to the country's civil war, which has crippled the country's food and logistics supplies.

Millions of people in Yemen are at risk of malnutrition, famine and death as a result of fighting between government forces, supported by the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels.

In Somalia, a failure of the October to December 2016 Deyr rains and a forecast of poor rains in the coming spring may lead to a repeat of the 2011 famine, which killed 260,000 people.

The Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, appealed to the diaspora in November to help those suffering from a drought across the country.

"I appeal to the Somali people, wherever they are all over the world to help and stand shoulder to shoulder with the suffering Somali people who lack food and water due to the drought in the country," Mohamud said.