The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that drought continues to impact millions of people across Somalia. Somali authorities estimate that more than 4.6 million people, or around a quarter of the population in Somalia, are being affected by the ongoing drought, with more than 104,000 people displaced in November alone due to the extreme dry conditions.
Aid agencies are reporting that tens of thousands were displaced between September and December, as boreholes and shallow wells becoming non-functional, water prices soar, food becomes increasingly scarce, livestock die and livelihoods collapse. Education has also been severely affected, with more than 75,000 students forced to drop out of school nationwide.
On Monday, UNHCR reported more than 146,000 new internal displacements in November. Out of these, 37,000 were caused by conflict or insecurity while 104,000 were due to drought. Overall displacement is escalating, with 463,000 since January 2025 forced to flee, driven by conflict, insecurity, and drought.
While the security situation in Somalia remains highly volatile, the upcoming dry season between January and March is expected to make drought conditions worse. Increased water scarcity and higher livestock mortality are anticipated, potentially intensifying food insecurity in many parts of Somalia.
The situation is also likely to drive more people from their homes toward urban areas and displacement sites, where living conditions and livelihood opportunities are already extremely limited.
“Authorities are appealing for urgent assistance to avert a possible collapse of pastoral and farming livelihoods and to prevent avoidable loss of life. They warn that the next four months will be critical, as the rainy season is not expected until April 2026,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.
“We and our humanitarian partners are mobilized, supporting assessments, mapping available supply stocks, and coordinating emergency responses across water, food, nutrition, health and shelter sectors.”
Dujarric added that aid agencies are also providing cash assistance, animal fodder and rehabilitating boreholes, as they visit field locations to assess the severity of the situation and review resources for early action.
However, these efforts are constrained by significant funding shortfalls. The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated US$10 million at the end of November, targeting over 603,000 people, but substantially more support is urgently needed.
The deepening drought emergency follows the poor performance of both the Gu rain season (April–June) and the Deyr rains (October–December), and is compounded by funding shortfalls for humanitarian assistance. The $1.4 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Somalia for 2025 is only 26 percent funded, with $370 million received to date.
The brutal cut in donor funding in 2025 — primarily by the United States and Germany — has already forced humanitarian agencies to scale back or shut down critical programs, drastically reducing life-saving operations and endangering millions of lives.
Somalia continues to face a severe food security crisis. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, 4.4 million Somalis are currently experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including more than 920,000 people facing emergency levels. This number is expected to rise in the coming months.
The nutritional situation is equally alarming: nearly 1.9 million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, of whom more than 420,000 face severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and 1.43 million suffer from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).