The Somali government and United Nations agencies have issued a dire warning that 4.4 million people—nearly a quarter of Somalia’s population—could face famine by April 2025 due to prolonged drought, ongoing conflict, and a sharp decline in humanitarian funding.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) Commissioner Mohamuud Moallim emphasized the urgency of the crisis, stating that communities are not only battling severe drought but also struggling with rising food prices and escalating violence. He called for immediate and coordinated action to prevent further devastation and strengthen Somalia’s resilience.
The warning, issued by SoDMA in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF, and the World Food Programme (WFP), highlights the deteriorating humanitarian situation. Experts fear that the number of those affected will rise between April and June 2025, coinciding with an expected season of below-average rainfall.
Acute funding shortages have already led to cutbacks in life-saving programs, including food aid, nutrition support, and water and sanitation services. Somalia’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires $1.42 billion to address the crisis, but only 12.4% of the funds have been secured.
The warning follows the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which reveals that 3.4 million Somalis are already facing crisis-level or worse hunger. Somalia is on the brink of a famine similar to the one in 2022, which, according to UN data, claimed thousands of lives—nearly half of them children.