The decision was announced by the World Food Program on Friday (wfp) Assistant Executive Director Matthew Hollingsworth returns from Somalia, where millions of people are once again being pushed to the brink of famine.
The United Nations emergency food agency is warning this Nearly 6 million people – nearly one in three Somalians – now face acute hungerWith 2 million already facing emergency levels of food insecurity, just one step away from famine.
nearby 1.9 million children are severely malnourished.
Hormuz factor
According to WFP, The crisis is being deepened by global economic shocks linked to instability in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the broader Middle East crisis.
At the same time, in some areas of Somalia, food prices have increased by up to 70 percent. Fuel prices have increased by 150 percentThe cost of transportation of aid and basic goods is increasing.
Supply routes have also been disrupted, making humanitarian work difficult as recurring droughts, conflict and displacement devastate communities across the country.
Mr Hollingsworth gave the example of therapeutic food containers arriving in Somalia which were 40 days late “Due to the impact on global shipping”.
families leaving home
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the senior official described dire conditions across Somalia, particularly in Puntland, where dried up water sources, collapsing livelihoods and increasingly unsuccessful rainy seasons are forcing families to flee in search of food and water.
“Somalia has so far endured three consecutive failed rainy seasons Crops are ruined, livestock are lost, livelihoods are being destroyed and millions of people are being affected of the people,” he said
He recalled meeting families who had left everything behind after losing animals, farms and sources of income that could no longer support them.
Just a day earlier in Mogadishu he met a newly displaced family that had fled the south for the capital: one of thousands now seeking aid in the crowded urban area.
He warned that even the recent rains have brought little relief to communities whose ability to cope has already been exhausted.
help response collapsing
WFP says humanitarian agencies are now working Forced to make an “impossible choice” due to severe lack of funds.
The agency warned it was currently reaching only one in ten people in need of food aid, a dramatic drop from last year when more than two million people were receiving assistance.
During his visit to Puntland, Mr. Hollingworth visited a health center where mothers with malnourished children had walked hundreds of kilometers for treatment.
A mother told them that her three-year-old son had received only two months of nutritional assistance, but the assistance had been discontinued because resources had been exhausted.
“Now she is forced to think how she will feed her child and other children for the next month.,” He said.
In the same area, the number of functioning health centers has fallen from 12 last year to only three today. Preventive nutrition programs have stopped altogether in some facilities, leaving only emergency treatment available
WFP warned that without immediate new funding, its operations in Somalia could close completely by July.
The sound of famine of 2022 is scaring
Aid officials drew comparisons to 2022, when Somalia came dangerously close to famine after a prolonged drought and mass displacement.
At that time, a massive international humanitarian response helped prevent a catastrophe.
Mr Hollingsworth stressed that the same outcome is still possible – but only if governments and donors act quickly.
“Famine can always be prevented,” he said. “Prevention depends on timely action“
WFP says it already has the systems and infrastructure in place to rapidly expand assistance, including 1.7 million biometrically registered people who can immediately access emergency cash assistance.
But officials warned that without urgent international action, Somalia risks slipping into another devastating humanitarian disaster.
“Hunger is increasing. Coping strategies are collapsing. And the window is closing” said Mr. Hollingsworth.
