Real risk of famine in Somalia due to aid cuts: ‘We don’t know where support will come from’
Somalia faces ‘food catastrophe’ after aid cuts
- Parts of Somalia, particularly the country’s South West State, face a real risk of famine by early 2026, with the number of people in "food emergency" tripling this year.
- Nasir Arush, humanitarian minister for South West State, warned of a "food catastrophe" next year, attributing the crisis to significant cuts in humanitarian aid.
- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that only 21 per cent of the $1.4 billion humanitarian response requested by NGOs for Somalia has been funded this year, approximately half the level of last year.
- Aid cuts have led to the closure of 170 clinics across Somalia, exacerbating malnutrition, with 1.9 million children under five facing acute malnutrition.
- Despite successful interventions in 2017 and 2022, a lack of donor response and a poor current rainy season are intensifying fears for the coming year.