UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "sounded the alarm" to warn of the gravity of the situation in Somalia on Tuesday (April 11th) during a visit to the Horn of Africa country.

"The combination of terrorism and drought, caused largely by climate change, creates the perfect conditions (for a crisis) and requires massive support from the international community," he said Tuesday afternoon from the southwestern city of Baidoa.

The UN leader visited a camp for displaced people caring for drought victims in this region among the hardest hit by hunger, and which is also a stronghold of the Islamist Shebab.

Today in Somalia I visited families who have been forced to flee due to terrorism & drought.

Despite having lost so much, their determination to rebuild their lives is nothing short of inspiring.

The world can no longer neglect them nor the millions of fellow Somalis in need. pic.twitter.com/eoZXNeBLU2

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 11, 2023

Upon his arrival in the capital Mogadishu for this "solidarity visit", he explained that he had come to mobilize the international community.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud welcomed the trip, which he said "testifies to the fact that the United Nations is fully committed to supporting our plans to build the state and stabilize the country."

The visit of Antonio Guterres, who had already visited Somalia in March 2017, comes as the country faces the worst drought in at least four decades.

Five consecutive aborted rainy seasons in parts of Somalia, as well as Kenya and Ethiopia, have wiped out livestock and crops. Conditions that have forced at least 1.7 million people to leave their homes in search of food and water.

About half of Somalia's population will need humanitarian assistance this year, with 8.3 million people affected by drought, the UN estimate estimates.

Acute lack of humanitarian funding

According to a study published in March by Somalia's Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, between 18,100 and 34,200 people could die from the consequences of drought in the first six months of this year.

The UN has appealed for $2.6 billion in humanitarian assistance for Somalia, only 15 per cent funded. "The international community has been distracted from the plight of the Somali people," he said.

Somalia was hit by a famine in 2011 that killed 260,000 people, more than half of them children under the age of six. In 2017, a new disaster was averted thanks to the rapid mobilization of abroad.

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"Although Somalis hardly contribute to climate change (...) they are among the biggest victims," Guterres said.

The UN chief and the Somali president also "discussed the government's valuable efforts to fight terrorism and advance peace and security for all."

Fierce fight against terrorism

Returning to power in May 2022, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud declared an "all-out war" on al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the internationally backed government since 2007.

In September, Somalia's president sent troops to support local clan militias that had risen up against them in the centre of the country.

In recent months, the army and the militias known as "macawisley" have recaptured large swathes of territory from al-Shabaab, in an operation backed by the African Union force in Somalia (Atmis) and US airstrikes.

The government claimed in late March that more than 3,000 al-Shabaab fighters had been killed since the offensive began. And according to the Ministry of Information, 70 towns and villages have been "liberated".

This information is impossible to verify independently.

Despite these setbacks, al-Shabaab has regularly carried out deadly attacks, underscoring its ability to strike civilian, political, and military targets in the heart of Somali cities and military installations despite government advances.

In a report to the UN Security Council in February, Antonio Guterres said 2022 had been the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017, largely because of al-Shabaab attacks.

With AFP

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