Somali PM appeals for urgent aid amid ‘catastrophic’ drought

Aid agencies say the number of needy Somalis is set to increase as the impact of drought continues to grip most parts of the country as the rivers dried up and the people, mainly children started to die.

News Keydmedia Online
14 March 2022

Somali PM Roble chairs a meeting on the drought response in Mogadishu on Monday, March 14 [Photo: OPM]

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The prime minister of Somalia Mohamed Hussein Roble has called Monday for urgent international aid to save millions of people dying from starvation in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia is in the midst of its worst drought in 11 years.

The PM has hosted an emergency meeting of UN aid agencies and charities in Mogadishu on Monday, where he made an appeal for immediate relief assistance to be extended to the drought-hit people.

An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia - around a third of the population - are on the brink of hunger after they have been struck by a severe drought that killed thousands of their livestock.

Aid agencies say the number of needy Somalis is set to increase as the impact of drought continues to grip most parts of the country as the rivers dried up and the people, mainly children started to die.

According to PM Roble, drought has brought Somalia to the brink of famine similar to that of 2011 which left tens of thousands of people dead. It was the deadliest disaster in 60 years.

The IDP camps around Mogadishu are coming under intense pressure after receiving more than 300,000 people who left their homes in search of food and water.

OCHA said the drought is projected to intensify as Somalia faces the risk of a fourth consecutive failed rainy season in early 2022. The office of the PM set up a drought response committee last month, but no aid was sent to the most-hit areas.

The outgoing Somali government was accused of failing to mitigate the impact of the drought crisis as leaders fixed their attention on their re-election in the ongoing parliamentary vote.

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