Puntland State issues urgent plea as drought threatens nearly 1 million people
AXADLE, Somalia — Puntland State’s leadership on Saturday made a stark appeal for immediate humanitarian assistance, saying nearly 940,000 people across the semi-autonomous region are now living under the strain of a prolonged drought that has withered pasture, emptied wells and left thousands at imminent risk of starvation.
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“The people of Puntland State are in dire need of urgent support to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” Acting President and Vice President Ilyas Osman Lugatoor said in a statement released from Garowe, the regional capital. Puntland State authorities say some 130,000 people are in critical condition and require immediate life-saving aid.
Breadth of the emergency
The drought’s reach is sweeping. Officials listed the hardest-hit areas as Mudug, Nugaal, Sool, Cayn, Sanaag, Haylaan, Bari, Karkaar and Ras Caseyr — regions where nomadic and agro-pastoral communities depend on seasonal rains for livestock, food and income. Puntland State reports that more than 310,000 children under five are suffering from severe malnutrition, while 360,000 people — mostly pastoralists who have lost their herds — are internally displaced and struggling to survive in makeshift settlements.
- Estimated people affected: 940,000
- People in critical condition: 130,000
- Children under five with severe malnutrition: 310,000+
- Internally displaced people: 360,000+
In towns and IDP (internally displaced person) camps around Garowe, water points that once served hundreds now run dry or provide brackish water. Aid workers say families are splitting rations, children are showing swollen bellies and sunken eyes, and livestock mortality is climbing — a devastating economic loss where camels, goats and sheep are central to culture and survival.
“My camel died in June. The children are weak. Sometimes we walk for hours and find nothing,” said Asha, a mother of five who fled the countryside and now shares a thin plastic shelter with two other families on the edge of a displacement site. “We need water, food and medicine. We are tired.”
Drivers: four failed rainy seasons and climate change
Puntland State authorities say the crisis is the product of climate-driven shocks: rainfall has failed for four consecutive seasons, leaving much of the landscape parched for nearly two years. Hydrological and meteorological agencies — including the Integrated Water Management Center (IMC), the Somalia Water and Land Information Management project (SWALIM) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s climate arm (IGAD/ICPAC) — warn that the coming Gu and Deyr rainy seasons are likely to bring below-average precipitation, compounding the emergency.
For pastoralist communities that have long practiced transhumance, the loss of pasture and water means deeper vulnerability. Herds shrink under stress, markets collapse as animals are sold off at low prices, and social safety nets fray.
“This is not a single bad season; it is a pattern of shocks that reduce people’s ability to cope,” said a humanitarian worker with an international NGO who has been coordinating relief in Puntland State. “When pastoralists lose their herds, they lose both nutrition and income, and it takes years to recover even in normal rains.”
Part of a worrying regional picture
Across the Horn of Africa, droughts have become more frequent and severe in recent years, driven by higher temperatures and increasingly erratic rains. Experts link the rising frequency of climate extremes to global warming, and humanitarian agencies warn that places like Somalia — where livelihoods are closely tied to the environment — will face recurring crises unless preparedness and long-term resilience measures are scaled up.
Aid response and the roadblocks ahead
Puntland State has called on local organizations, international partners and civil society to mount an urgent response. An emergency coordination meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, at the Presidential Conference Hall in Garowe, officials said, aimed at mobilizing resources, coordinating distribution and avoiding duplication of efforts.
But delivering aid in Puntland State is complicated. Logistical challenges, limited road access to remote communities, competing needs across Somalia, and funding shortfalls hamper swift operations. Humanitarian organizations also face security concerns in some districts and the perennial challenge of reaching mobile pastoralists who are constantly on the move.
“We can fly food and medicines into Garowe, but the last mile — getting water trucks, cash assistance and community-level nutrition services to the people — is where time is lost and lives are at stake,” the NGO worker said.
International donors have been stretched by multiple crises worldwide, from conflicts to climate disasters, and aid agencies are warning that underfunding could turn a severe drought into a full-scale famine in isolated pockets.
What needs to be done — and what it will cost
Humanitarian experts say a rapid, scaled-up package is needed: therapeutic feeding for malnourished children, emergency water trucking and rehabilitation of boreholes, cash assistance to buy food and market support to keep food flowing, veterinary services to save remaining livestock, and protection services for displaced families.
Longer-term, investment in drought-resistant livelihoods, early warning systems, water infrastructure and community-level contingency funds could reduce the scale of future emergencies. But those measures require predictable financing and political will from both local authorities and international partners.
As the world watches multiple humanitarian crises unfold, the plea from Puntland State raises broader questions: are global funding mechanisms keeping pace with the increased frequency of climate-driven disasters? And how will donor countries balance urgent lifesaving aid with investments in resilience that could prevent the next catastrophe?
For Asha and thousands like her in Puntland State, such arguments offer little comfort. “We pray for rain, but we also pray for help,” she said, holding the small hand of her youngest child.
With forecasts bleak for the coming seasons and nearly a million people in need, Puntland State’s call is urgent: rapid international support could still avert a wider catastrophe, but time is short and the world’s response will tell whether the region’s resilience can be salvaged before another dry season deepens the crisis.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
