Mogadishu, Somalia – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has sounded the alarm over Somalia’s worsening humanitarian crisis in its August update, citing severe drought, mass displacement, and escalating protection risks.
According to the report, drought conditions in northern and eastern regions continue to devastate communities, leaving 2.5 million people in urgent need of assistance. Of these, 900,000 are concentrated in the worst-affected districts, where dwindling water resources and crop failures have pushed families to the brink.
Compounding the crisis, some 142,000 displaced people were evicted from informal settlements in August alone, with Banadir region accounting for 81 percent of the cases. Aid agencies warn that the mass evictions further strain already vulnerable populations, many of whom have no safety nets to fall back on.
In response to the rising risks, humanitarian partners have renewed Somalia’s protection strategy to better safeguard vulnerable groups, particularly women, children, and the elderly. The strategy focuses on mitigating exploitation, abuse, and violence while strengthening community resilience in displacement sites.
OCHA emphasized that while aid efforts are ongoing, resources remain severely limited. Humanitarian organizations continue to call for sustained funding to prevent further deterioration, stressing that millions remain on the edge of survival as Somalia grapples with overlapping shocks of conflict, climate change, and displacement.