More than 1 million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity, and the situation in the country is beginning to resemble the period prior to the famine in 2011. At that time, the international community was unprepared for the scale of the crisis, and that mistake must not be repeated, warns the Danish Refugee Council.
A combination of instability, drought and increased food prices now poses a serious threat to IDPs and other vulnerable groups in Somalia with 1 million people are at risk.
“Conflict, drought and vulnerable civilians – we have seen this scenario before, and we know the potential consequences. I visited our emergency program in Mogadishu in 2011, and witnessed first-hand the consequences of a delayed and inadequate response. With serious crises in Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and the Central African Republic, DRC as well as other key humanitarian actors are pressured in terms of capacity and resources, which is why we must take action before the situation in Somalia spins out of control, “says International Director for the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Ann Mary Olsen.
Food security has gradually improved since the famine in 2011 that cost 250,000 lives, but after two years of modest improvements, things are now moving in the wrong direction once again. The UN recently released a series of alarming stats – 3 million people rely on humanitarian aid, more than 200,000 children under the age of five are in urgent need of supplementary food rations and access to clean water and sanitation, more than 40,000 of these children are so severely malnourished that they will die if they do not receive medical treatment and therapeutic food.
“Our teams on the ground in Somalia are reporting a continuous deterioration of the humanitarian situation. At the same time, we know that the notoriously volatile security situation in the country will be a major challenge in an accelerating crisis. This is the situation we are preparing for, and this is the situation that requires immediate international attention,” says Ann Mary Olsen.
DRC has a long history in Somalia and currently work through 19 operational field offices throughout the country where programmes are developed, designed and implemented by more than 300 international and national staff.
