Recently arrived internally displaced children wait in a ‘wet-food’ line at a World Food Program center in Mogadishu, Somalia. Thousands of people have poured into the Somali capital over the past few weeks in search for food and water at the severe drought takes hold in remote rural regions. According to an United Nations February 2017 OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) report, famine could very soon be a reality in Somalia, largely due consecutive and severe drought. There are already worrying similarities to the situation in 2011, when 260,000 died. In the worst affected areas, chiefly rural communities, crops have been wiped out and livestock died, while communities are being forced to sell their assets, and borrow money and food to survive. Some 6.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of these, 3 million people cannot meet their daily food requirements and need urgent humanitarian assistance. UN humanitarian efforts, from UN agencies such as UN OCHA, World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF as well as on the ground NGO’s, are all in overdrive mode providing a combination of food distribution, access and security as well as medical support and treatment. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)
Food insecurity is likely to worsen significantly through May 2022 in Somalia, with many households experiencing widening food consumption gaps and erosion of their coping capacity, the United Nations relief agency warned on Sunday.
Citing Somalia 2021 Post Gu Seasonal Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (FAO/FSNAU), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said an estimated 3.5 million people will face acute food insecurity through December, of whom nearly 640,730 will face an emergency.
“The delay of the October-December deyr (short) rains has also significantly affected supplementary food and income from livestock production,” UNOCHA said in its latest humanitarian bulletin released on Sunday.
It said food insecurity and acute humanitarian needs have been reported across all sectors, with more than 5.9 million people currently in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
According to OCHA, humanitarian agencies project that 7.7 million people in Somalia will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022 due to conflict in various parts of the country, recurrent climatic shocks particularly drought and floods, disease outbreaks, including COVID-19 and increasing poverty.
The widespread dry conditions have resulted in increased human suffering and livestock deaths, with severe drought impacts reported in Jubaland, Southwest and Galmudug states (central regions) and parts of Puntland.
“In addition to the more than 2.9 million IDPs in Somalia, at least 5.5 million people are reportedly vulnerable due to pre-existing shocks and recurring disasters and are among those who are likely to need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022,” it said.
According to UNOCHA, 71 percent of Somalis will continue to live below the poverty line in 2022, especially in areas where humanitarian access remains a challenge.
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