Friday August 12, 2022
By Mohammed Omar Ahmed
A resident walks in front of a sandstorm in Dollow, southwest Somalia, on March 14. Photographer: Sally Hayden/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty Images
Somalia’s worst drought in more than 40 years has internally displaced 1 million people since the dry conditions struck in January 2021, according to the United Nations.
This year alone, an estimated 755,000 people fled their homes in search of water, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement on its website. The number of Somalians that will face crisis-level hunger is expected to rise to 7 million from 5 million in the coming months, on the back of the effects of climate change and rising food prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UNHCR said.
Expectations of a failed fifth rainy season will worsen the current plight and increase the risk of famine in the Horn of Africa nation, the UN agency said.