The United Nations has warned that Somalia is facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis, with growing fears of famine amid worsening economic pressure and rising inflation. UN official Tom Fletcher said the country’s food insecurity is intensifying at an alarming rate.
Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera, Fletcher said he had spent nearly a week in Somalia witnessing the scale of the crisis firsthand. He noted that conditions for ordinary people are worsening daily, with access to food becoming increasingly difficult.
According to the UN, global economic instability and disruptions in supply chains have pushed up the prices of food and fuel in Somalia. Fletcher also pointed to wider geopolitical tensions, including disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz, as contributing factors to global price volatility, further straining vulnerable populations.
He warned that hundreds of thousands of children in Somalia are currently suffering from severe malnutrition, while hunger levels have sharply increased over the past six months.
Fletcher called for urgent international action, stressing that without immediate and coordinated humanitarian support, Somalia risks sliding into a full-scale famine once again.
Source: Al Jazeera