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.



Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date.

"Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"We discussed air defense issues and I'm grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats."

Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed "several other important matters" that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelenskiy and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow's lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelenskiy, Trump said: "They're going to need them for defense... They're going to need something because they're being hit pretty hard."

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow's forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump's conversation with Putin on Thursday.