Somalia faces deadly drought as humanitarian aid falls short

By  JACK DENTON and OMAR FARUKSaturday May 16, 2026

Abdi Ahmed Farah has watched nearly all of his hundreds of goats die, a loss that would have seemed unimaginable in the Somali countryside where he has spent his life. For three straight years, rain has failed to arrive with any regularity in this corner of Somalia, and the 70-year-old says he has never known conditions this harsh.

He is already in debt after buying water. The reservoir beside his tent is almost dry. His family now survives on one meal a day — rice mixed with sugar and oil — while the youngest of his 22 children was born three weeks ago and his wife can produce only sporadic drops of breast milk.

“I have considered abandoning my family because I cannot provide for them,” said Farah, sitting in front of dwindling food supplies, as if on guard.

His ordeal is one part of a broader drought that is pushing millions across Somalia deeper into crisis. Rivers have dried up, fields have turned brittle and experts say the country may be facing one of the worst droughts in its history.

The emergency is being made more severe by aid reductions, most notably from the Trump administration, and by higher prices tied to the Iran war. Somalia relies on the Middle East for most of its fuel, and 70% of its food is imported.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says production of maize and sorghum, Somalia’s key staple crops, during the October-December rainy season fell to the lowest level ever recorded in the country.

Food security specialists warn that as many as half a million children could suffer severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous form. According to UNICEF, that would exceed the number of children needing treatment during the droughts of 2011 and 2022.

‘It’s a repeated climate shock’

“2026 is the worst year on record for Somalia in terms of drought,” said Hameed Nuru, the U.N. World Food Program director for Somalia. “Children have started dying.”

In February, the Somali government and the United Nations estimated that 6.5 million people were facing crisis-level hunger — roughly one-third of the population and a 25% rise from January.

A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report released Thursday put the number of Somalis currently facing food insecurity at 6 million. That is below February’s 6.5 million estimate, but still above the 5.5 million projected in the earlier report.

Aid groups are trying to stretch what little they have, and members of the Somali diaspora are sending money home, but humanitarian workers say the support falls far short of what is needed.

“This drought is not just another cycle of dry season. It’s a repeated climate shock with shrinking humanitarian support,” said Mohamed Assair, a manager with Save the Children in Puntland State, a semi-autonomous region.

People drank dirty rainwater and got sick

Farah once owned 680 goats. Drought-related hunger, lack of water and disease have reduced that number to 110, and even those animals are barely hanging on.

“There is no market for my goats because they are so thin. Previously we would trade them for rice, but now we can’t,” he said. His family has been camped outside Usgure village for 10 days. Nearby, nearly a dozen goat carcasses lie in the dust.

In Usgure, where about 700 families live, community leader Abshir Hirsi Ali said the local economy has unraveled because so many residents depend on pastoralists like Farah. Shops have shut down, and food supplies are running low.

A short rain shower recently left behind puddles of contaminated water. “Some families were so desperate they drank it … now there is a high number of people with fever,” Ali said.

Save the Children sometimes delivers free water to Usgure, but private water trucks have quadrupled their prices, and a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of flour has risen by a third to $40.

“I’m not only afraid for my family but the future of the whole village,” said Muhubo Tahir Omar, a 47-year-old mother of 11 children.

Omar, like many other parents, had sold goats to cover school fees, “but when we didn’t pay, the teachers left.” Her last goat is now sick.

‘Conflict made our situation even worse’

Somalia’s long-running conflict has displaced millions over the years, and the drought has forced another 200,000 people from their homes this year, according to the U.N.

Some families are trekking across brutal terrain with almost nothing to carry them through.

“People are on the move … and when people move, people die,” said Kevin Mackey, the Somalia director for humanitarian group World Vision. He recently encountered people who had walked for nine days to reach aid in Dollow in the south.

About 80 families are living in a displacement camp outside Shahda village in Puntland State.

Shukri, a 20-year-old mother of four, used to make one meal a day last with handouts. Now, she says, there is nothing to eat and clean water is scarce.

“The children got diarrhea (from dirty water) and malnourishment worsened,” said Shukri, who gave only her first name. “I know a few people who have died.”

Many displaced families head to Mogadishu, the capital, where food remains hard to come by.

Fadumo, a 45-year-old mother of seven, relocated there from Lower Shabelle, where livelihoods had already been threatened by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants.

“The water sources we depended on for farming, including the river, dried up,” Fadumo said. “Conflict made our situation even worse, forcing us to flee.”

‘The outlook is deeply concerning’

Somalia endured a devastating drought in 2022, when an estimated 36,000 people died, according to the U.N. But the aid response that once rushed in for such crises is now far smaller.

“Unless there is a sudden and substantial response from donors, the outlook is deeply concerning. A drought of similar severity in 2022 received a response five times greater than what we are seeing,” said Antoine Grand, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Somalia.

Aid funding for Somalia fell to $531 million in 2025, largely because of U.S. cuts. The United States had been Somalia’s top donor. In 2022, total aid funding reached nearly five times that amount, or $2.38 billion.

The World Food Program said it planned to assist 2 million people with food aid this year, but funding gaps have limited its reach to 300,000.

At a hospital center in Qardho, Puntland State, children with severe acute malnutrition are being treated, but therapeutic milk is now seldom available, said director Shamis Abdirahman. Nurses have turned to homemade substitutes, including cow’s milk.

The center sees about 15 children a month, and staff expect more as displaced families continue arriving.

One of them is Farhia, a 4-year-old who weighs just 7.5 kilograms (16.5 pounds). Her eyes are sunken, and her bones show sharply beneath her skin.

Her mother, Najma, said the family fled to Qardho after all of their goats died.

“I don’t know what to hope for, or see how we can get back to what we had,” she said.