Famine Grips Somalia as US Aid Drops to Zero

A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Somalia: brutal drought and severe food shortages have pushed two million people to the brink of outright starvation — twice as many as a year ago. At the same time, the United States has completely zeroed out its financial aid to the country, slashing it from last year's $70 million (roughly 1.4 billion crowns) down to nothing.

Among the stories cited by The Washington Post is that of a mother from the town of Sakow in the central Jubba province in southern Somalia. Fleeing hunger, she walked 300 kilometers over two weeks with her children to reach Baidoa, a city now overwhelmed by drought refugees. "We have no food, we are in a desperate situation," she told the newspaper.

Baidoa Overwhelmed by Refugees

Baidoa is now home to 1.6 million internally displaced people — half of everyone who has fled their homes because of the drought and famine in Somalia. According to the UN, more than half a million people were forced to abandon their homes in just the first three months of this year alone, and 80% of them are women and children.

Children Suffering the Most

Global monitoring data shows that half of all children under five in Somalia suffer from acute malnutrition. Save the Children reports that over the past six months, the number of children in Baidoa hospitalized for severe wasting and rapid weight loss has tripled — malnutrition is now visible simply by looking at the circumference of children's arms.

Doctors Without Borders conducted its own survey of 888 families across 14 camps: one in four children was found to be severely malnourished. A third of families said they eat only once a day, and just 2% can afford three meals daily. Since the start of the year, the organization's doctors have examined 21,000 children in Baidoa, and half of them showed moderate acute malnutrition.

"This year we've admitted 22,000 malnourished patients of all ages — 80% more than a year ago," Mitchell Sangma, an expert with Doctors Without Borders, told Reuters.

Donors Pulling Back

Providing help is becoming increasingly difficult: according to Sangma, funding for malnourished people has fallen by 80% this year. Besides the US, other Western countries have also cut their aid. During a drought of comparable scale in 2022, Somalia received $2 billion in aid; this time, only $300 million has been allocated.

"When large-scale intervention is needed, we're seeing donor interest decline instead," Sangma noted. Plan International has only been able to help 200,000 of the two million people facing a critical food shortage.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz