President Nangolo Mbumba has declared a State of Emergency over the persistent drought affecting all regions of Namibia.

The State of Emergency has been declared as of May 22 under Article 26(1) of the Namibian Constitution as well as the Disaster Risk Management Act.

More than 300,000 households are facing food insecurity and have registered for drought relief food.

The Drought Relief Programme is expected to cost about N$1.1 billion.

So far, the government has allocated N$825 million towards the programme.

President Mbumba has appealed to the Southern African Development Community, as well as bilateral and international stakeholders, to assist in augmenting the shortfall of N$482 million.

Dr. Mbumba made the appeal and shared Namibia's predicaments during the Extraordinary SADC Summit held virtually last week to discuss the impact of the El-Nino weather phenomenon on member states.