A convergence of prolonged drought, soaring global prices, and shrinking aid funding has plunged Somalia into one of its most severe hunger crises in years, affecting five million people across the Horn of Africa nation.
Displaced pastoralist communities in Puntland are bearing the brunt of the disaster. Mahad Farah Muse is among some 200,000 Somalis displaced this year—the majority due to drought.
“Even when little rain fell before, it did not last. That small amount is now gone. And if rain does not come soon, people may start dying. Just like the livestock,” Muse said. “People depended on livestock. And now the livestock are gone. Everything has been lost.”
With three consecutive failed rainy seasons, camps are filling with families who have lost their homes, livestock, and sources of income. Their cattle, goats, and sheep can no longer find pasture land.
Already, 6.5 million people are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse, according to the UN World Food Programme. The agency warns that funding shortfalls and soaring costs are severely limiting the humanitarian response.
“What we’re seeing across the entire country is a malnutrition crisis. We simply don’t have the resources to respond as we should do,” a WFP spokesperson said. “This is made absolutely worse because of the Middle East crisis which is raising prices across the whole country—fuel by 150 percent, even food commodities by at least 20 or 30 percent.”
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, driven by the Middle East war, is severely impacting aid delivery to Somalia by forcing longer shipping routes.
The situation is creating what aid workers describe as a triple shock of hunger, where prolonged drought, surging costs, and constrained aid put millions more at risk in the coming months.
