UN: Millions of Somalis at Risk of Famine

Six million Somalis are facing extreme levels of food insecurity YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP/File
Six million Somalis are facing extreme levels of food insecurity YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP/File
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UN: Millions of Somalis at Risk of Famine

Six million Somalis are facing extreme levels of food insecurity YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP/File
Six million Somalis are facing extreme levels of food insecurity YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP/File

Millions of people in Somalia are at risk of famine, with young children the most vulnerable to the worsening drought in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

"Somalia is facing famine conditions as a perfect storm of poor rain, skyrocketing food prices and huge funding shortfalls leaves almost 40 percent of Somalis on the brink," the agencies said in a statement.

Many parts of Somalia are being ravaged by drought that has also taken hold in other countries in the region including Ethiopia and Kenya, but the UN agencies warned of a major funding shortfall to address the crisis and avoid a repeat of the 2011 famine, AFP reported.

"We are literally about to start taking food from the hungry to feed the starving," the UN World Food Program's Somalia representative El-Khidir Daloum said in a statement, describing the country as "on the cusp of a humanitarian catastrophe".

Six million Somalis or 40 percent of the population are now facing extreme levels of food insecurity, according to a new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, almost a two-fold increase since the beginning of the year, the agencies said.

The joint statement by the WFP, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the humanitarian agency OCHA and the United Nations Children's Fund said "pockets of famine conditions" were likely in six areas of Somalia.

They said children under the age of five were the most vulnerable, with access to food and milk scarce because of rising commodity prices and livestock issues.

About 1.4 million children face acute malnutrition through the end of the year, with around one quarter facing severe acute malnutriton, the statement said.

Together, humanitarian agencies had been able to supply aid to almost two million people but the UN warned of a "critical gap" in donor funding, with a 2022 plan seeking $1.5 billion reaching only 4.4 percent of the target.

In the 2011 famine, 260,000 people -- half of them children under the age of six -- died of hunger or hunger-related disorders.

Natural disasters -- not conflict -- have in recent years been the main drivers of displacement in Somalia, a war-torn nation that ranks among the world's most vulnerable to climate change.



Australia's Albanese Claims Election Victory, Riding Anti-Trump Wave

Supporters of Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react at a Labor party election night event, after local media projected the Labor Party's victory, on the day of the Australian federal election, in Sydney, Australia, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Supporters of Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react at a Labor party election night event, after local media projected the Labor Party's victory, on the day of the Australian federal election, in Sydney, Australia, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australia's Albanese Claims Election Victory, Riding Anti-Trump Wave

Supporters of Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react at a Labor party election night event, after local media projected the Labor Party's victory, on the day of the Australian federal election, in Sydney, Australia, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Supporters of Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react at a Labor party election night event, after local media projected the Labor Party's victory, on the day of the Australian federal election, in Sydney, Australia, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia’s Anthony Albanese claimed a historic second term as prime minister on Saturday in a dramatic comeback against once-resurgent conservatives that was powered by voters' concerns about the influence of US President Donald Trump.

Peter Dutton, leader of the conservative Liberal party, conceded defeat and the loss of his own seat - echoing the fate of Canada's conservatives and their leader whose election losses days earlier were also attributed to a Trump backlash.

Supporters at Labor’s election party in Sydney cheered and hugged each other as Albanese claimed victory and said his party would form a majority government. "Our government will choose the Australian way, because we are proud of who we are and all that we have built together in this country," Albanese told supporters, Reuters reported.

"We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else. We do not seek our inspiration from overseas. We find it right here in our values and in our people," he added.

Albanese would be the first Australian prime minister to win a consecutive term in two decades. He said Australians had voted for fairness and "the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need".

The Australian Electoral Commission website projected Labor would win 81 of 150 seats in the House of Representatives, increasing its majority in parliament, with 68% of the vote counted.

Dutton - whose Liberals had been leading in opinion polls as recently as February until he became dogged with comparisons to Trump - said he had phoned Albanese to congratulate him.

"We didn't do well enough during this campaign. That much is obvious tonight, and I accept full responsibility for that," Dutton said in a televised speech.

The former policeman with a reputation for being tough on crime and immigration said he had spoken to Labor's candidate in the seat of Dickson he had held for two decades, and congratulated her on her success.

"We have been defined by our opponents in this election which is not the true story of who we are" Dutton said, promising the party would rebuild.

Cost-of-living pressures and concerns about Trump's volatile policies had been among the top issues on voters' minds, opinion polls showed.

"If you sling enough mud it will stick," said Liberal Senator for the Northern Territory Jacinta Price, whose comments that her party would "make Australia great again" had fuelled comparisons to Trump's own "Make America Great Again" slogan.

"You made it all about Trump," she said on ABC. Dutton had said he would appoint Price to a ministry of government efficiency, one of several echoes of Trump's policies.

"Losing Peter Dutton is a huge loss," she added.

Opposition Liberal Party spokesman, Senator James Paterson, defended the conservative campaign, which he said was negatively affected by "the Trump factor".

"It was devastating in Canada for the conservatives ... I think it has been a factor here, just how big a factor will be determined in a few hours' time," he earlier told ABC.

Earlier, as counting got under way, Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government had been "in all sorts of trouble" at the end of 2024 but got back into the contest because of Albanese's strong campaign performance, policies that addressed concerns about the cost of living, and the Trump effect.

As the results started emerging, he told ABC the projected victory was "a win for the ages”. Albanese "has pulled off one of the great political victories since federation,” he said.

The results were "absolutely unbelievable", Labor supporter Melinda Adderley, 54, said through her tears at the election party.