In Drought-Stricken Somalia, Starving Mothers Forced To Choose Which Child To Feed.
“If there’s a very small amount of food, we give it to those who need it the most — the youngest,” Abdille told Reuters this week from the capital Mogadishu, where her family recently fled after their herd of goats died from starvation.
Across Somalia, families like Abdille’s have shared their stories of inconceivable suffering as a prolonged drought, combined with the effects of the country’s ongoing civil war with the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, continues to drive extreme shortages of food and water.
Last week, more than 100 people in a single region of Somalia died over two days because of famine and diarrhea.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who arrived in Somalia on Tuesday on an emergency visit, said he was stunned by the rampant misery he witnessed.
The WHO reported that nearly 5.5 million people are at risk of cholera.
People are dying.
Thousands of Somali refugees will also be affected by Trump’s revised ban, which suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.
And climate change has, in recent years, brought increasing drought ― and food insecurity ― to the region.
“We need to make as much noise as possible,” Guterres said this week, calling for global assistance for millions of suffering Somalis.