Guterres: Half of Somalis Need Urgent Humanitarian Aid to Avoid Famine

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), said that Somalia is suffering from the repercussions of a climate crisis that it did not cause in any way, as it faces the risk of mass famine after a drought that claimed 43,000 lives last year.

And Guterres added, according to Reuters, that about 8.3 million Somalis, almost half of the population, need urgent humanitarian assistance, adding that only 15 percent of the $2.6 billion in aid requirements for this year have been met.

"When famine looms on the horizon, it is completely unacceptable," Guterres told reporters in Mogadishu.

Guterres' speech came after visiting a camp in Baidoa, southwestern Somalia, for people displaced by drought and fighting between the al-Shabaab movement affiliated with al-Qaeda and government forces. "It is inconceivable that Somalis should suffer the terrible effects of a climate crisis that they did not cause in any way," Guterres added.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations stated that the drought caused the displacement of 1.4 million Somalis, 80 percent of whom are women and children, after five consecutive seasons of no rain.