Saturday September 3, 2022
Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, briefs the press on the Geneva Consultations on Yemen, Palais des Nations, Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Violaine Martin/UN)
A United Nations relief official began his mission to Somalia on Thursday to shore up humanitarian operations amid a looming famine.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will review the collective efforts to urgently ramp up operations and discuss progress and challenges during the visit.
Griffiths will meet with affected communities, government officials, and partner organizations. The OCHA said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia that nearly half of Somalia’s estimated population, 7.8 million people, is affected by the worst drought in four decades.
It said the affected people are now bracing for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season over the coming months. An estimated 1 million Somalis have been displaced by the drought, and more than 213,000 people face life-threatening, catastrophic food insecurity.
The OCHA said the impact of the drought and increasing economic pressures are deepening the severity of needs and driving the country to the brink of famine. “There is an imminent risk of famine if crop and livestock production fails, food prices continue to rise, and those most in need do not get aid,” the UN warned.
It said aid groups on the ground are doing all they can to save lives and livelihoods, noting that by the end of July, they had assisted 5.3 million people