Somali regional state rejects drought claims, cites improved conditions during Gu rains

Saturday May 16, 2026

Photo: Somali regional state

The Somali Regional State Disaster Risk Management Bureau has dismissed reports portraying Ethiopia’s Somali Region as gripped by drought, saying the picture presented is outdated and fails to reflect the improvement brought by the current Gu rains.

In a statement sent to Addis Standard, the Bureau said it had reviewed recent coverage that pointed to malnutrition, drought and acute water shortages across the region. It acknowledged that climate-related vulnerabilities remain in some areas, especially during the dry Jilaal season, but said the conditions described largely existed before the present rainy season began in late March and April, when rainfall started to replenish water sources in many places.

According to the Bureau, much of the region is now seeing normal to above-normal rainfall, a development it said is helping pastoral and agro-pastoral communities recover. Claims that livelihoods are broadly collapsing during the ongoing rainy season, it said, are “not accurate.” The Bureau also noted that some riverine areas prone to flooding are now facing flood emergencies rather than drought.

The statement pointed back to earlier joint assessments by the Regional Health Bureau and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which documented drought impacts in Afder Zone and Shebelle Zone, dry lowland areas near the Somalia border. Those repeated shortfalls in rainfall have led to livestock losses, water scarcity and worsening food insecurity, according to the assessment, with pastoralist households losing their main source of income and water competition intensifying.

“Most people in this community were rearing livestock: that was how we survived,” MSF quoted Isaq Ibrahim Mohamed, a resident of Barey district in Afder Zone as saying. “When the rain stopped, we lost our livestock, and people fled to wherever they could find water to survive.”

“Our lives are so harsh, because there is nothing to depend on,” says Isaq Ibrahim Mohamed. “People walk an hour or more just to fetch water from rivers, and we share it with the animals. We see diarrhea and malnutrition.”

According to MSF’s report, which was also cited on Addis Standard, during an assessment, led by the Ethiopia’s Somali Region Health Bureau in both Afder and Shebelle zones, its teams “identified urgent gaps in water and nutrition services, as local health capacity is overstretched. This situation is aggravated as more medical and humanitarian organizations withdraw due to funding shortages, while rising fuel prices linked to the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and limited supply chain movement further constrain the response.

“From the areas we assessed with the regional health bureau, we saw a high number of malnutrition admissions in the existing facilities,” says Abdullahi Mohammad Abdi, deputy medical team leader for MSF in Ethiopia. “What we are seeing on the ground is a reduction of the services that patients previously received, as partners scale back due to global funding cuts and shortages. This has created a heavy burden on the existing system. Water and sanitation programs are the ones most affected.”

MSF said it was collaborating with local health authorities on nutrition and water and sanitation activities in Barey district, Afder Zone. We are also planning to expand the support to Shebelle Zone.

Still, the Bureau urged media outlets to provide “balanced, evidence-based, and time-sensitive reporting,” saying the latest accounts ignored signs of recovery, community resilience and the humanitarian work being carried out by authorities and partners.

The Regional Government has “never denied that climate-related vulnerabilities remain an ongoing challenge in some localized areas in the Somali Region,” particularly during the dry Jilaal season (December to March). The report cited may be referring to “the challenges of water shortage and other drought-related emergencies” that existed prior to the onset of the Gu rains in late March and early April, the Bureau said. During that period, a joint assessment by the Regional Health Bureau and Doctors Without Borders was conducted, and “appropriate response activities [were] activated at the time.”

The Somali Region is currently experiencing the Gu rainy season, with many parts of the region receiving “normal to above normal seasonal rainfall,” which has contributed to improved water availability and is supporting pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods.

The quoted report also does not sufficiently acknowledge “ongoing recovery trends, local resilience, and the efforts undertaken by the Regional Government, communities, and humanitarian partners” during the dry spell, and even now, as conditions shift in some riverine and flood-prone areas where floods, rather than drought, are becoming the primary humanitarian concern, the Bureau added.