Saturday June 4, 2022
The United Nations relief envoy in Somalia has launched a
new allocation of 20 million U.S. dollars from the Somalia Humanitarian Fund
(SHF) to provide immediate assistance to communities at risk of famine in
priority locations.
Adam Abdelmoula, the UN Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator for Somalia, said a disaster is unfolding in Somalia due to severe
drought which is ravaging several parts of the country.
"In several areas, the risk of famine has increased,
and scores of Somalis are on the brink of catastrophe," Abdelmoula said in
a statement issued on Thursday evening in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
According to the UN, Somalia is the most drought-impacted
country in the Horn of Africa. At least 6.1 million people have been affected,
of whom 771,000 have abandoned their homes in search of water, food, and
pasture.
The UN said at least 1.5 million children are facing acute
malnutrition, and over 3,170 acute watery diarrhea (AWD)/cholera and 2,460
measles cases have been confirmed since January.
"I am concerned that a huge number of people will starve
to death unless we rapidly scale up the delivery of humanitarian assistance to
those most affected," Abdelmoula said.
The UN said the 2022 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan,
which seeks 1.5 billion dollars to assist 5.5 million people, has only received
18 percent of required funding (nearly 260 million dollars) as of May 31
despite increasing needs.
In February, the UN said SHF allocated 25 million dollars to
mitigate the impacts of severe drought while about 836,000 people benefitted
through multi-sectoral integrated interventions.
Abdelmoula said the new allocation will focus on
underserved, hard-to-reach areas and complements the 14 million dollar Rapid
Response grant from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) that aims to
address the worsening food crisis and multi-sectoral needs of communities
severely affected by the drought.
"We are running out of time. Unless we act now, we are
likely to experience the worst outcomes in coming months," Abdelmoula
said.