UN: Famine Threatens Millions of People in Somalia

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, appealed to the international community to provide urgent aid to save millions of Somalis from the severe food crisis their country is going through due to the worst drought in more than 4 decades, amid a financing gap estimated at more than 90 percent.

"There is a need for significant international support for the East African country, which is facing humanitarian difficulties at the same time that we are fighting a serious terrorist threat," Guterres said during a surprise visit to Somalia.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled during the past weeks to the capital, Mogadishu, and a number of camps are being set up by a group of international humanitarian organizations in various parts of the country to accommodate those fleeing from hunger.

Half of the approximately 17 million people suffer from food insecurity and need urgent humanitarian interventions, which cost the World Food Program about $2.6 billion, of which less than 10 percent was available due to the international community's preoccupation with severe economic and political crises in other regions of the world.

A joint study conducted by the United Nations and the Somali government predicted that the number of people dying of starvation in Somalia during the first six months of 2023 would reach about 34,000.