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Mr. Swan also noted that some of the country’s critical priorities include finishing the constitutional review process and addressing urgent needs for improved development, security, and the current drought.

In the past, human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have faulted the outcome of Africom’s probes claiming that they are inadequate and result in zero accountability.

Half of the population is in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. That is 7.7 million. Amongst those, six million need food assistance. As for those impacted by the drought, they're estimated to be 4.9 million.

The World Food Program’s deputy country director in Somalia, Lara Fossi, says her agency must make some hard choices on how to distribute aid because of a lack of money.

Natural disasters -- not conflict -- have in recent years been the main drivers of displacement in Somalia, a war-torn nation that ranks among the world's most vulnerable to climate change.

Dujarric said that livestock deaths and disease outbreaks are widespread, while up to 80 percent of the water sources in the country are drying up and the water levels of the Shabelle and Juba Rivers are below historic levels.

Weather experts forecast unprecedented fourth consecutive below-average rains during the long rainy season of April to June across most of the country.

The IMF said in March that its Somalia program is due for a review on May 17, but election delays imply that a new government may not be ready to timely approve planned reforms.

Dyfan said she was concerned by the arbitrary arrest and detention of journalists by security personnel across the country and reiterated the importance of respecting the right to freedom of expression and opinion.

About 500 civilians were killed or injured in Somalia in 2020 due to IEDs and explosive remnants of war; casualties totaled 669 in 2021, he said.

She also visited the city of Baidoa, in the Federal Member State of South West State, where she met with its President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed ‘Laftagareen’ and other senior officials, and civil society representatives.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants have controlled Mogadishu until 2011 when they were pushed out by Amisom troops, but still hold territory in the countryside.