Agencies and humanitarian groups voice fears that drought and rising prices could jeopardise the lives of more than 6 million people without swift action

Somalia is facing a “very real risk” of famine, with more than 6 million people, half its population, facing acute food insecurity in the country, three UN agencies have warned.

Humanitarian groups in Somalia cautioned there was a “small window” to stop a repeat of the 2011 famine, when an estimated 260,000 people starved to death in the country after a slow response from donors.

The projected speed of deterioration in a country gripped by severe drought, rising prices and forecasts of poor rains, together with the number of people at risk and the difficulties involved in reaching those affected, have led to a stark warning that an “immediate and massive” response is needed to avert catastrophe.

In Somalia, western donors made famine more, not less likely | Rob Bailey Read more

According to the latest findings, by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) in Somalia, almost 3 million people face crisis and emergency food insecurity, more than double the number six months ago. Crisis and emergency, a classification of the severity of food insecurity, is one step away from famine. About 363,000 acutely malnourished children need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including about 71,000 who are severely malnourished, according to FSNAU.

Dick Trenchard, the Food and Agriculture Organisation representative in Somalia, said: “The latest report tells us that we risk famine in several areas of Somalia in the coming months. The warning could not be clearer and it could not be more stark. What worries most is the projected speed of deterioration, the scale – in terms of number of people at risk, the geography and the very real risk of a significant worsening.”

Trenchard, who was speaking on behalf of the FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN children’s agency Unicef, said the response must span prevention – particularly in rural areas where farmers can be given cash to keep their animals alive – mitigation measures such as nutrition, and health support.

He urged international partners, Somali civil society and government to work together to “avert catastrophe”.

We have a small window to stop what happened in 2011 from happening again – but that window is quickly shutting Hassan Saadi Noor, Somalia country director, Save the Children

Global hunger levels are at their highest for decades, with four countries – Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen and Somalia – facing the risk of famine and 70 million people in need of food aid, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, a US-based agency. Failed rains across parts of the Horn of Africa, following one of the strongest El Niño events on record, has led to a drought affecting Somalia, south-eastern Ethiopia and northern and eastern Kenya.

Two seasons of failed rains in Somalia have resulted in severe water shortages, tripling the price of a barrel of water (200 litres) to $15. Three-quarters of the country’s livestock has died and cereal production is down 75%, sending food prices through the roof. All of these are famine indicators, according to the WFP.

Save the Children warned that millions of children in the country risked starvation or even death.

Hassan Saadi Noor, director of Save the Children in Somalia, said: “With the spring rains expected to be much lower than average, we have a small window to stop what happened in 2011 from happening again – but that window is quickly shutting.

“Five years ago, more than a quarter of a million lives were needlessly lost, 130,000 of them children. We simply cannot have a repeat of that tragedy. The only way to prevent this devastating loss of life is for donors and international leaders to act now.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is calling on the international community to provide $300m by April, while Save the Children said it requires $60m to reach 1.2 million Somalis affected by the crisis.



Preliminary forecasts for poor “deyr” or rains in Somalia in March-May, follows the failure of the last two rains, which may lead to a further deterioration in food security.



Abdurahman Sharif, the director of Somalia NGO Consortium said: “Food security is very bad in certain areas and we also have access limitations. A lot of people are concerned about the famine that happened in 2011. That hit southern central Somalia. Here we have a situation that has hit the whole of Somalia. One of the big failures of 2011 is we didn’t act in time and we do not want to repeat those mistakes.

“The very sad fact is that we have competing priorities. The situation in Yemen is very bad, Syria is bad. But we are asking NGOs, the UN, the donor agencies, to scale up their response.”

There are fears that, if the forecasts are accurate, more people could be affected than in 2011. Food insecurity is more widespread than in 2011, when the southern and central part of the country were worst hit.



How to donate: South Sudan famine and Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria food crises Read more

Arif Husain, chief economist and head of the World Food Programme’s vulnerability assessment mapping unit, said: “The difference is, before we had the drought of 2010, we had a good season, so people had some coping strategies. This time around, the previous rains have been bad, so people are at a lower level of coping.

“The last famine was declared in July 2011, but the excessive mortality had started to happen in April and May. We are starting in February, so that people can see the urgency of the situation.”

The death toll in the 2011 famine was exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabaab, an Islamist group allied to al-Qaida, which banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia it then controlled. In 2011 the group, which has been fighting an insurgency in Somalia for a decade and once controlled much of the country, was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, and many other towns and cities, but it still dominates in rural areas. </s> MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s prime minister said Saturday that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region — the first death toll announced in a severe drought threatening millions of people across the country.

Somalia’s government declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee. The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in the southwest part of the country alone.

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the U.N. secretary-general last month in a $4.4 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. All are connected by a thread of violent conflict, the U.N. chief said.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, was expected to visit Somalia in the next few days.

Thousands have been streaming into Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently.

The drought is the first crisis for Somalia’s newly elected Somali-American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by extremist group al-Shabab, have left the country fragile. Mohamed has appealed to the international community and Somalia’s diaspora of 2 million people for help.

About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia “need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished,” the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network has warned.

Because of a lack of clean water in many areas, there is the additional threat of cholera and other diseases, U.N. experts say. Some deaths from cholera already have been reported.

The government has said the widespread hunger “makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks.”

The U.N. humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864 million to provide assistance to 3.9 million people. But the U.N. World Food Program recently requested an additional $26 million plan to respond to the drought. </s> At least 110 people, most of them women and children, have died from starvation and drought-related illness in Somalia in the past 48 hours, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said Saturday.

Khaire made the announcement while speaking to the drought committee in Mogadishu, four days after President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo declared the drought a national disaster.

The death toll covers those who died in the rural areas of Somalia’s southwestern Bay region where the drought is more severe than other parts of the country. It was not immediately clear how many others have died in the rest of the country.

“The drought response committee briefed the PM about the humanitarian crises in the country that is threatening the lives of the people and their livestock who are on the brink of dying from hunger and watery diarrhea disease,” Khaire’s office said.

Khaire has urged “business people and everyone to contribute to the drought response efforts aimed at saving the lives of the millions of Somalis dying of hunger and lack of water.”

The country has been hit by a severe drought that has affected more than 6.2 million people who are currently facing food insecurity and lack of clean water because of rivers that are drying up and recent years with little rain.

Earlier in the week, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, warned the drought could lead to famine.

“If we do not scale up the drought response immediately, it will cost lives, further destroy livelihoods, and could undermine the pursuit of key state-building and peace-building initiatives,” he warned, adding that a drought — even one this severe — does not automatically have to mean catastrophe.

According to the United Nations, “Somalia is in the grip of an intense drought, induced by two consecutive seasons of poor rainfall. In the worst-affected areas, inadequate rainfall and lack of water has wiped out crops and killed livestock, while communities are being forced to sell their assets, and borrow food and money to survive.”

The United Nations adds that “the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) — managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) — have found that over 6.2 million, or more than half of the country’s population, are now in need of assistance, up from 5 million in September.”

Famine in Somalia killed roughly 258,000 people between 2010 and 2012, according to joint report by the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development. At the time, humanitarian organization Oxfam criticized the international community’s response to the famine in Somalia, saying “the world was too slow to respond.”

UNICEF lists Somalia among four nations where they say a total of 1.4 million children could die of severe acute malnutrition as famine looms. South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen are also areas of heightened concern. </s> Prime minister calls on citizens to help as famine resulting from drought leads to rise in deaths in the Bay region.

Somalia's prime minister has announced the deaths of at least 110 people due to hunger and diarrhoea in the country over the past 48 hours amid a drought in the Bay region.

The announcement by Hassan Ali Khaire on Saturday followed the Somali government's warning last week that the drought amounts to a national disaster.

"It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by famine and diarrhoea at the same time. In the last 48 hours 110 people died due to famine and diarrhoea in Bay region," Khaire's office said in a statement.

The Bay region is in the southwest part of the country.

READ MORE: Dying of hunger - What is a famine?

"The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis wherever they are to help and save the dying Somalis," said the statement, released after a meeting of a famine response committee.

Mostly children and elderly people died in villages surrounding the town of Baido, Abdullahi Omar Roble, the government's regional humanitarian chief, told the DPA news agency.

There was not enough medication to treat all of the patients, Roble said.

The drought has led to a spread of acute watery diarrhoea, cholera and measles and nearly 5.5 million people are at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.

The cholera outbreak has killed at least 69 since Friday, a local government official said.

More than 70 others have been hospitalised.

UN experts have sounded a warning on deaths related to cholera and other diseases that arise from a lack of clean water.

The UN estimates that five million people nationwide need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Thousands have streamed into the capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies.

More than 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding centre recently.

READ MORE: Somalia drought forces children out of school

About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia "need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished", the US Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has said.

The Somali government has said the widespread hunger "makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks".

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general last month in a $4.4bn aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen.

In 2011, an estimated 260,000 people starved to death in Somalia.

The UN humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864m, to provide assistance to 3.9 million people.

But the UN World Food Program recently requested an additional $26m plan to respond to the drought.

PHOTOS: Drought in Somalia - Time is Running Out

The drought is the first crisis for Somalia's newly elected Somali-American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is also known as Farmajo.

Mohamed has appealed to the international community and Somalia's diaspora of two million people for help.

Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by al-Shabab, have left the country fragile. </s> More than 100 people have starved to death in a single region of Somalia within 48 hours due to a severe drought, the country’s prime minister has said.

In the first drought-related death toll announced since Somalia's government declared a national disaster on Tuesday, Hassan Khaire told the nation’s drought committee 110 people had died from hunger in two days in the southwestern Bay region alone.

It comes amid warnings of potential for a full-blown famine, with the UN estimating that five million people in the country are currently in need of aid.

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Thousands have been arriving in Somalia's capital Mogadishu over recent days in search of food aid, with 7,000 internally displaced people having recently checked into one feeding centre.

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general in February for a £3.6 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen — all countries connected by a thread of violent conflict.

Last month, Save the Children warned Somalia was at “tipping point” and that the intensifying food crisis was on track to become “far worse” than the 2011 famine, which claimed 260,000 lives.

The NGO claimed that while 12 million people in the area were likely to be affected — with 50,000 children alone facing death — the nation was in danger of being forgotten due to donors being pulled in too many different directions.

Around 363,000 acutely malnourished children “need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished,” the US Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network recently warned.

The government has meanwhile said the widespread hunger “makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks.”

There is the additional threat of cholera and other diseases due to lack of clean water in many areas, UN experts said, with some deaths from cholera having already been reported.

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The UN humanitarian appeal for Somalia this year is £703 million, which is required to provide assistance to 3.9 million people, while the UN World Food Program recently requested an additional £21 million plan to respond to the drought.

Shape Created with Sketch. Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Show all 11 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation 1/11 Ed Ou 2/11 Ed Ou 3/11 Ed Ou 4/11 Ed Ou 5/11 Ed Ou 6/11 Ed Ou 7/11 Ed Ou 8/11 Ed Ou 9/11 Ed Ou 10/11 Ed Ou 11/11 Ed Ou 1/11 Ed Ou 2/11 Ed Ou 3/11 Ed Ou 4/11 Ed Ou 5/11 Ed Ou 6/11 Ed Ou 7/11 Ed Ou 8/11 Ed Ou 9/11 Ed Ou 10/11 Ed Ou 11/11 Ed Ou

The death toll comes amid warnings that 100 million people worldwide are facing acute malnutrition and risk starving to death.

Dominique Burgeon, director of the emergency division at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the number of people at risk would continue to grow, costing millions of lives, if humanitarian aid is not paired with more support for farmers.

The British Government allocated Somalia £100m of humanitarian funding last month, including emergency food and safe drinking water for one million people.

Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, visited the country in January. She said: “Our message to the international community is clear – they need to act now and urgently, before it is too late to help stop innocent people starving to death.” </s> Drought Threatens To Drive Famine In Somalia, As Hunger Kills More Than 100

At least 6.2 million people in Somalia — or just about half the country — are grappling with the prospect of an acute food shortage due to deepening drought. And on Saturday, Somalia's prime minister made it clear that the conditions are exacting a stark human cost.

Over a two-day span, at least 110 people died of hunger in just a single region, Hassan Ali Khaire said Saturday during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee.

"I can confirm that Bay region in the south and other parts of Somalia are deteriorating rapidly," Khaire said, "and my estimation is that half of the country's population has felt the impact of this drought."

As NPR's Eyder Peralta notes for our Newscast unit, the country already declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. As Somalia has dried up, Khaire says the lack of clean water has increased the risks of waterborne diseases, while the ability of malnourished people to fight off those diseases has plummeted.

"It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by [hunger] and diarrhoea at the same time," Khaire's office said in a statement. "The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis, wherever they are, to help and save the dying Somalis."

The United Nations is putting out urgent calls for aid, saying as many as 5 million people need aid in the shadow of a looming famine, according to The Associated Press.

"Thousands have been streaming into Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies," the news service reports. "Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently."

If a full-blown famine should descend on Somalia, the World Health Organization says it would be the country's third famine in a quarter-century — and the second in less than a decade.

Citing a joint report by the U.N. and the United States Agency for International Development, CNN reports that famine killed about 258,000 people in Somalia between 2010 and 2012.

But famine is not yet a foregone conclusion.

The AP reports the U.N. is currently appealing for $864 million in humanitarian aid, while "the U.N. World Food Program recently requested an additional $26 million plan to respond to the drought." </s> MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somalia's prime minister said Saturday that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region — the first death toll announced in a severe drought threatening millions of people across the country.

Somalia's government declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee. The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in the southwest part of the country alone.

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the U.N. secretary-general last month in a US$4.4 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. All are connected by a thread of violent conflict, the U.N. chief said.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, was expected to visit Somalia in the next few days.

Thousands have been streaming into Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently. </s> Malnourished baby Ali Hassan, 9-months-old, is held at a feeding center in Mogadishu, Somalia, by his mother Fadumo Abdi Ibrahim, who fled the drought in southern Somalia.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia's prime minister says 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people across the country.

It was the first drought-related death toll announced by Somalia's government since it declared a national disaster on Tuesday. The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke Saturday during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee. The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in the southwest alone.

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the U.N. secretary-general last month in a $4.4 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. All are connected by a thread of violent conflict, the U.N. chief said.

Thousands have been streaming into Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in recent days in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently.

About 363,000 acutely malnourished children "need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished," the U.S. Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has warned.

Because of a lack of clean water in many areas, there is the additional threat of cholera and other diseases, U.N. experts say. Some deaths from cholera already have been reported.

The government has said the widespread hunger "makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks."

The U.N. humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864 million to provide assistance to 3.9 million people. But the U.N. World Food Program recently requested an additional $26 million plan to respond to the drought. </s> THE world faces the largest humanitarian crisis since the United Nations was founded in 1945, the UN’s humanitarian chief has warned.

Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council that over 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and northeast Nigeria are facing starvation and famine.

He said that “without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death” and “many more will suffer and die from disease”.

He urged an immediate injection of funds for the four countries plus safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid “to avert a catastrophe”.

“To be precise, we need $4.4bn (£3.6bn) by July,” said Mr O’Brien.

Without the money, he said, children will be stunted by severe malnutrition, gains in economic development will be reversed and “livelihoods, futures and hope will be lost”.

UN and food organisations define famine as when more than 30% of children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition and mortality rates are two or more deaths per 10,000 people every day, among other criteria.

Mr O’Brien said the largest humanitarian crisis is in Yemen where two-thirds of the population – 18.8 million people – need aid and more than seven million people are hungry.

The Arab world’s poorest nation is engulfed in conflict and the UN says more than 48,000 people have fled fighting just in the past two months.

South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, has been ravaged by a three-year civil war and more then 7.5 million people are in need aid.

“The famine in South Sudan is man-made,” said Mr O’Brien. “Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop.”

In Somalia more than half the population – 6.2 million people – need humanitarian assistance, including 2.9 million who are at risk of famine and require immediate help “to save or sustain their lives”.

“What I saw and heard during my visit to Somalia was distressing – women and children walk for weeks in search of food and water. They have lost their livestock, water sources have dried up and they have nothing left to survive on,” Mr O’Brien said.

In northeast Nigeria, a seven-year uprising by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has killed over 20,000 people and driven 2.6 million from their homes.

A UN humanitarian coordinator said that malnutrition in the northeast is so pronounced that some adults are too weak to walk and some communities have lost all their toddlers. news.sky.com
The United Nations and various humanitarian groups call on the international community to help prevent a possible famine in Somalia as rising food prices and drought have left over six million people at risk of starvation.