<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)  appealed for 42.6 million US dollars in aid to help millions that have been affected by the drought in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The UN Refugee Agency, in a statement issued yesterday, said that  the funding will deliver lifesaving assistance and protection to some 1.5 million refugees, internally displaced people and local host communities affected by the drought in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The UNHCR said food shortages have been further exacerbated by rising food and commodity prices due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, as the cost of food staples, including grain and cereal prices, has risen significantly.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">As the crisis worsens, hundreds of thousands of people have also been forced to flee their homes in search of life-saving aid. To date, more than 800,000 people in Somalia have been internally displaced and nearly 16,000 have crossed the border into Ethiopia, UNHCR figures indicated.</span></p>