Funding requirements for humanitarian needs have reached a record high, driven by Ukraine's war, other conflicts worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change-related disasters, economic slowdown, and their combined global consequences. More people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and more are forcibly displaced than ever before, the majority of them from countries facing acute food insecurity. The largest global food crisis in modern history is unfolding. Particularly, in the Horn of Africa, levels of hunger are alarmingly high, with countries edging close to famine. This article discusses why and how famine, which had declined in frequency and lethality, is resurging, using Somalia and Ethiopia as 'mini case studies', emblematic as they are of a broader trend. Technical and political aspects of food crises and their consequences on health are analysed. The article examines some of the most contentious issues around famine: the data challenges for declaring it and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The article concludes with the claim that the elimination of famine is possible, but only through political action. Humanitarians can warn of an impending crisis and mitigate some of its consequences, but they are powerless in the face of an ongoing famine, like those described in Somalia and Ethiopia.
Keywords: Ethiopia; Famine; Food security; Somalia; Starvation.