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Experts fear perfect storm of desert locusts

East Africa faces the worst invasion of desert locust swarms in decades from a new generation of the world’s oldest and most destructive migratory pest.

A locust swarm in Madagascar in 2016
A locust swarm in Madagascar in 2016 (AN/Laika AC)

East Africa faces the worst invasion of desert locust swarms in decades from a new generation of the world’s oldest and most destructive migratory pest hatching just in time for planting season, U.N. officials warned on Monday.

As rainy season approaches, Horn of Africa nations have little time to prepare for an invasion certain to exacerbate the region's already dire humanitarian crises, said U.N. officials from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO.

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