Millions of Somalis suffer hunger, says IFRC
Mogadishu, Aug 11 (EFE).- Somalia is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe as some three million Somalis are experiencing acute food insecurity, the Red Cross warned Wednesday.
“Somalia is on the cusp of a humanitarian catastrophe. Climate-related disasters, conflict and Covid-19 have coalesced into a major crisis for millions of people,” said Mohammed Mukhier, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) for Africa.
More than 800,000 children under the age of five are also at risk of suffering acute malnutrition by the end of the year, according to the IFRC.
The poverty-stricken country often suffers from extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and cyclones, causing people to lose their livelihoods, suffer clean water shortages and face malnutrition and food insecurity.
The IFRC said that the socio-economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic will likely aggravate an already worsened nutrition outcomes among vulnerable groups, including internally displaced people and poor households in urban areas.
A report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in July estimated that at least 5.9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 2.9 million others have been forcibly displaced by conflicts and natural disasters.
Somalia has fallen into chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled after ruling the country for more than 20 years.EFE
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