According to a report from Nairobi, Kenya, in The Economist: "Famine stalks the land. The failure of rains in parts of Ethiopia may increase the number needing food handouts by 5 [million], in addition to the 8 [million] already getting them, in a population of 80 [million]. The production of Kenyan maize, the country's staple, is likely to drop by one-third, hitting poor farmers' families hardest. The International Committee of the Red Cross says famine in Somalia is going to be worse than ever. Handouts are urgently needed by roughly 3.6 [million] Somalis ..." ("A Catastrophe Is Looming," Sept. 26, 2009).

Other places like the Central African Republic are also beginning to be affected. The high price of food doesn't help. The future does not look good. "The drought cycle in East Africa has been contracting sharply. Rains used to fail every nine or ten years. Then the cycle seemed to go down to five years. Now, it seems, the region faces drought every two or three years. The time for recovery—for building stocks of food and cattle—is ever shorter. And if the rains fail before the end of this year, an unimaginably dreadful catastrophe could ensue."

The third horseman of the book or Revelation, representing famine (Revelation 6:5-6) already rides in East Africa. But the time will come when such horrific conditions become global. (Source: The Economist.)