A CHARITY that has a base in Bradford has returned from Africa with a warning that a severe drought in Somaliland could soon become a "major famine."

Muslim Hands has just returned from the drought-stricken region of East Africa as part of a trip carried out under the umbrella of the Muslim Charities Forum.

Members of the group, which has a base in the Khidmat Centre in Lidget Green, have described the desperate state of those living in an area where crops and animals were dying due to a lack of water.

The delegation, also made up of representatives from Bradford-based Charity Right, Islamic Relief, the Human Appeal and Africa Relief Fund, was accompanied by Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Diane Abbott.

Following a drought of 2010-12 in Somalia where an estimated 260,000 people died, the region is once again facing a similar predicament and the group has called for the donor community to act to prevent this from happening.

The UN has requested $105 million of aid to provide emergency relief to the 385,000 people in Somaliland and Puntland.

The National Drought Committee arranged for the delegation to visit several stricken areas such as Habaas and Borama, the main town in Awdal region which borders Ethopia and Djibouti, and is worst affected by the drought.

Here, they visited refugee camp sites and saw the situation for themselves.

After the visit, Ms Abbott said: “Weather conditions like El Nino contributed to a failure of the 2015 rains across Somaliland and Puntland in northern Somalia. People are dying from hunger and thirst, and the impact will be catastrophic if the international community does not step up its response.”

Muslim Hands has been operating in the Somalia region since 2011, carrying out work in the areas of emergency relief, education, water sanitation, food security, health and income generation schemes.

Aid worker Sofia Buncy, who is based at the Khidmat Centre and was part of the delegation, said: “As you approach the camps, it immediately becomes apparent that this is a desperate situation.

"The absence of water has resulted in the huge loss of livestock which was very much evident along the journey as we witnessed the bodies of cattle laying roadside. The people in the camps are truly in a desperate situation, and having travelled up to 70 kilometres to arrive here, find a serious lack of water, food and shelter.

"Rivers and canals are arid and dried, trees are all but dying and the nearest water supply is many kilometers in land.

"Aid is arriving, but the areas are very remote and difficult to get to.

"The memory which will perhaps haunt me the most is witnessing several malnourished women trying to breastfeed their crying and starving babies with no joy as their milk stores have depleted."

Since returning from her visit last month she has raised over £6,500 for the appeal. She hopes to raise £8,000 to build two wells in the region. To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/Sofia-Buncy?