Why Somalia’s drought and looming food crisis require an innovative response

Abdirahman Abdishakur - Global investment
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Updated 22 September 2022
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Why Somalia’s drought and looming food crisis require an innovative response

  • Presidential Envoy for Drought Response tells Arab News “famine could be here as soon as October”
  • Abdirahman Abdishakur says “humanitarian support is vital but it cannot be a permanent solution”

NEW YORK CITY: Just a few months ago, Somalia was promised a new era. After a peaceful vote and an equally peaceful transfer of power, many had hoped that a line had been drawn under decades of clan divisions, factious politics, heightened tensions between Mogadishu and the regions, and a persistent extremist presence.

In recent years, Somalia recorded encouraging economic growth as well, lifting the hopes of the international community further. 

A new president, whose election had crowned a period of hope that saw the drafting of a new provisional constitution, the establishment of a federal government, and the subsequent formation of five new federal member states, had promised to focus on national reconciliation and on further political and financial reforms.

James Swan, the UN special representative to Somalia, had told the Security Council that Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s presidency offered a “long-awaited opportunity to advance urgent national priorities.”

Yet it is not because of this progress that Somalia is set to be a major focus of this year’s 77th session of the UN General Assembly. Once again, the country finds itself facing a state of alarming emergency resulting from multiple, overlapping crises.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization has predicted that the Horn of Africa is likely to face a fifth consecutive failed rainy season over the months of October to December. Somalia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and is ill-equipped to cope with this drought, the worst it has experienced in 40 years.

There is no end in sight, many say. Five years of drought have depleted the country’s water levels, leading to crop failure, with agricultural production falling 70 percent below average. More than 3 million livestock have perished. The animals that remained are now emaciated.

And getting aid to those in need remains a tremendous challenge. Some areas are hard to reach owing to poor road infrastructure. Others are under the control of Al-Shabab, an uncompromising, unpopular group with links to Al-Qaeda.




A mother gives water to her child at a camp for displaced persons in Baidoa, Somalia. Hungry people are heading to Baidoa from rural areas of southern Somalia, one of the regions hardest hit by drought. (AFP)

A deadly insurgency by Al-Shabab against the federal government has resulted in humanitarian aid convoys being attacked. In a vicious cycle, the scarcity that Al-Shabab is exacerbating is in turn leading to more young Somalis being vulnerable to recruitment.

Then came the war in Ukraine, the reverberations from which have been deeply felt in the Horn of Africa. The resultant spike in global grain prices has pushed millions of Somalis to leave their homes and look for food, carrying starving and malnourished children on the way.

Only those who are physically capable of leaving have left, however. As for the most vulnerable, the children, Somalia’s newest generation, they are perishing.

“Food insecurity is a global problem,” Abdirahman Abdishakur, Somalia’s special presidential envoy for drought response, told Arab News.

“The whole world has been affected by disruptions to global supply chains of grain, fertilizer and fuel arising from the conflict in Ukraine. Much like the rest of the world, Somalia has also been affected.

“The difference for Somalia is that this crisis is coming on top of many others that the country has been reeling from for decades.”

UN reports indicate that some communities, particularly agro-pastoral populations in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts and displaced people in the Baidoa town of the Bay region, will experience famine starting in October if aid is not immediately scaled up.

Abdishakur is in New York City to lobby and urge donors, the international community, and the Somali diaspora to support the drought response “before it is too late.”

Various UN bodies, including children’s fund UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, have repeatedly warned that the emergency shows no signs of letting up.

In a statement, the FAO said that “without action, famine will occur within the next few weeks,” adding that drought-related deaths had already been occurring and the toll could be much higher in hard-to-reach rural areas, compared with the number recorded in camps for displaced families.

During the famine of 2011, 340,000 Somali children required treatment for severe acute malnutrition, James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson, said in Geneva, Switzerland. “Today it’s 513,000. It’s a pending nightmare we have not seen this century.”




Abdirahman Abdishakur, Somalia's special presidential envoy, has called for an immediate global response to the country's food crisis. (Supplied)

According to the FAO, approximately 6.7 million people in Somalia will likely endure high levels of acute food insecurity between October and December this year, including more than 300,000 who have been left “empty-handed” by the country’s triple emergency and who are expected to fall into famine.

Abdishakur said: “Needs have escalated, and funds remain below what is required. The window for the international community is literally now. If the world doesn’t scale up assistance, famine could be here as soon as October.”

Although such dire predictions have thrown Somalia into the limelight, famine projections were actually made back in March.

“Many governments have increased their funding over the course of the drought, and we are very grateful. However, the need for adequate levels of funding to contain the initial emergency was not met, allowing the situation to spiral into the crisis we are experiencing today,” he added.

Now, Abdishakur is leading a call for a more aggressive humanitarian response to the crisis to save as many lives as possible.

“The sheer severity of the situation demands a more aggressive, innovative, and tangible reaction from the international community,” he said. And he called on the international community to “rally in the spirit of humanitarian diplomacy” and increase their contributions “before it’s too late.”

“No one should be dying from starvation in 2022. In this world of staggering wealth, skills and knowledge, there should be enough support to go around,” he added.




A child sleeps in a makeshift tent at Muuri camp in Baidoa, one of 500 camps for displaced persons. (AFP)

It is not the first or even 10th time that an emergency appeal has been made for Somalia to donor countries, and Abdishakur noted that it would not be the last if the same approach continued to be taken each year by Somalia’s government or the international community.

He said: “I do not want to be knocking on doors again in five years’ time or ever. Around 1 billion dollars is spent on aid to our country annually yet needs continue to increase. Humanitarian support is vital during a crisis, but it cannot be a permanent solution.”

Somalis are aware of the progress they had begun to get a taste for, but now fear that their country’s full potential will not be achieved.

According to experts, had that potential been utilized, Somalia could have contributed to food security and sustainable energy production in the Horn of Africa and the world.

As the presidential envoy for drought response, Abdishakur is advocating a new way of working aimed at ultimately ending the cycle of hunger and suffering that focuses on long-term adaptation to, and mitigation of, climate change.

Along with the urgent funds needed to save lives, he has called for investments that focus on fighting food insecurity, help foster livelihoods, and build infrastructure, especially roads.

He said that between 20 and 40 percent of agricultural produce in Somalia was lost in transportation because of poor roads.

FASTFACT

• A famine is an acute episode of extreme lack of food characterized by starvation, widespread deaths, destitution, and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition.

“Somalia needs partnerships that make its people thrive by continuing to live their traditional way of life with some added climate-adaptive and mitigation practices,” Abdishakur said

“Somalia has resources. We have minerals, rivers, wind, and natural gas. We have the longest coastline in Africa. We have a large agro-pastoral population, who live off ample pasture and export livestock to global markets when drought is not scorching their land.

“To break away from recurrent crises, we need the international community to understand the importance of building the resilience of our people to climate, economic, and security shocks.

“Along with urgently saving lives, international engagement in Somalia must contribute to livelihoods, develop vital modern infrastructure like roads and irrigation channels, and help families adapt to a new climate reality.”

Looking to the future, Abdishakur said: “We know that our government has a long way to go but we are committed to ending this crisis and stopping the cycle, including through improvements to the way we function, our transparency, and accountability.

“Our request to the international community, and any group with relevant expertise and resources, is to work with our government to urgently save lives today and make sustainable investments in the Somalia of tomorrow.”


Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts

Updated 18 April 2025
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Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts

  • US President Donald Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a truce
  • There has been no major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Russia

KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russia fired a fresh volley of missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, wounding dozens of people, Kyiv said Friday, as the United States warned it could end efforts to broker a ceasefire if it did not see progress soon.

US President Donald Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Russia on the three-year war.

After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.”

“Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters at Le Bourget airport before leaving the French capital.

Russia fired at least six missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine overnight, killing two people in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy and wounding 70 others, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack, which came just days before Easter.

“This is how Russia started Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” he said on Telegram.

An AFP photographer in the city of Kharkiv witnessed the aftermath of one strike, which left rubble and debris scattered across a street.

An elderly resident could be seen bandaged, her face smeared with blood, while residents assessed the damage.

Since taking office Trump has embarked on a quest to warm ties with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the US and its European allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.

Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from policy under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US is pushing Ukraine into a deal that would give Washington sweeping access to its mineral resources.

Ukraine’s prime minister will visit Washington next week for talks with top US officials aimed at clinching the minerals and resources deal by April 26, according to a US-Ukraine signed “memorandum of intent” published Friday.

Trump wants the deal – designed to give the United States royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals – as compensation for aid given to Ukraine under Biden.

France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”

The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

European officials had expressed dismay at being shut out from the peace process, while Ukraine has expressed concern that Witkoff – one of Trump’s closest allies – is biased toward Russia.

Zelensky accused Witkoff on Thursday of having adopted the “strategy of the Russian side,” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Moscow hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.

“He is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives,” Zelensky told journalists.

Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that a peace settlement depended on “so-called five territories” – the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea, that Russia claims to have annexed.

The Kremlin wants its claims over the regions to be recognized as part of any peace deal, a proposal that Ukraine has balked at. Moscow does not fully control any of them except for Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

Zelensky also said Thursday he had “information” China was supplying weapons to Russia, amid an escalating row between Kyiv and Beijing over China’s support for Moscow.

China, which has portrayed itself as a neutral party in the three-year war, has hit back at Kyiv’s criticism and called on all parties in the conflict to refrain from “irresponsible remarks.”


Indonesia weighs US arms purchases to curb tariff threat, Bloomberg News reports

Updated 18 April 2025
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Indonesia weighs US arms purchases to curb tariff threat, Bloomberg News reports

  • Equipment includes fighter jets and munitions

Dubai: Indonesia is considering purchasing billions of dollars worth of US-manufactured defense equipment, including fighter jets and munitions, Bloomberg news reported on Friday.
Indonesia’s Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin held a closed-door meeting of senior officials on April 8 to deliver a directive from the President Prabowo Subianto instructing them to identify US weapons that could be imported or fast-tracked for purchase, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the gathering.


EU needs to decide on possible Iran sanctions, Rubio says

Updated 18 April 2025
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EU needs to decide on possible Iran sanctions, Rubio says

  • Rubio said the US administration is looking for a peaceful solution with Iran

PARIS: Europe needs to decide if it is willing to reimpose sanctions on Iran when it becomes clear it is close to developing a nuclear weapon, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
“The Europeans have a decision to make, because I believe we should all anticipate that they’re about to get a report from the IAEA that says not just Iran is out of compliance, but Iran is dangerously close to a weapon, closer than they’ve ever been,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting with European leaders.
Rubio said the US administration is looking for a peaceful solution with Iran, but will never tolerate the country developing a nuclear weapon.
“It has to be something that not just prevents Iran from having a nuclear weapon now,” he said about a possible agreement.
“But in the future as well, not just for ten years with some sort of sunset provision or the like.”


Two killed as police officer’s son opens fire at US university

Updated 18 April 2025
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Two killed as police officer’s son opens fire at US university

  • Five people were wounded when the gunman — identified as Phoenix Ikner — rampaged through Florida State University
  • Footage on social media showed a stream of young adults walking through corridors with their hands in the air as they evacuated the building

Miami: Two men were killed in a mass shooting at a university in Florida allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff with her old service weapon, police in the southeastern US state said Thursday.
Five people were wounded when the gunman — identified as Phoenix Ikner — rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students, before he was shot by local law enforcement.
A sixth person was hurt trying to run away from the shooting, Chief Lawrence Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department said in a statement.
The campus was locked down as gunfire erupted, with students ordered to shelter in place as first responders swarmed the site moments after the lunchtime shootings.
Ikner, 20, has been hospitalized with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” Revell added.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters Ikner was a student at the university and the son of a an “exceptional” 18-year member of his staff.
“Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.
He added that the suspect was part of Sheriff’s Office training programs, meaning “it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”
Bystander footage aired by CNN appeared to show a young man walking on a lawn and shooting at people who were trying to get away.
Witnesses spoke of chaos as people began running through the sprawling campus as shots rang out near the student union.
“Everyone just started running out of the student union,” a witness named Wayne told local news station WCTV.
“About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots.”
The witness said he saw one man who appeared to have been shot in the midsection.
“The whole entire thing was just surreal. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Everything was really quiet, then all chaotic.”
'Make them take time'
The two people who died were “adult males” who were not students, police said.
The university, a public institution with more than 40,000 students, canceled all classes and told students who did not live on campus to leave.
FSU President Richard McCullough said the university was working to support those affected by the attack.
“This is a tragic day for Florida State University,” he said.
“We’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence that occurred on our campus earlier today.”
Student Sam Swartz told the Tallahassee Democrat he had been in the basement of the student union when shooting started.
“Everyone started freaking out,” Swartz said, adding he had heard around 10 shots.
A group of eight people huddled in a hallway and barricaded themselves with trash cans and plywood.
“I remember learning to do the best you can to make them take time,” Swartz said, adding that mass shooters are “just trying to get as many people” as they can.
Footage on social media showed a stream of young adults walking through corridors with their hands in the air as they evacuated the building.
Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms trumps demands for stricter rules.
That is despite widespread public support for tighter control on firearms, including restricting the sale of high-capacity clips and limiting the availability of automatic weapons of war.
President Donald Trump called the shooting “a shame, a horrible thing,” but insisted that Americans should retain unfettered access to guns.
“I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment. I have been from the beginning. I protected it,” he said, referring to the part of the US Constitution gun advocates say protects firearm ownership.
“These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting — the people do.”
A tally by the non-profit Gun Violence Archive shows there have been at least 81 mass shootings — which it defines as four or more people shot — in the United States so far this year.


Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests

Updated 18 April 2025
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Over 170 arrested for attacks on Pakistan KFC outlets in Gaza war protests

  • Attacks sparked by anti-US, anti-Israel sentiment
  • Several Western brands face boycotts in Pakistan over Israel-Palestine conflict

KARACHI: Police have arrested scores of people in Pakistan in recent weeks after more than 10 mob attacks on outlets of US fast-food chain KFC, sparked by anti-United States sentiment and opposition to its ally Israel’s war in Gaza, officials said.
Police in major cities in the Islamic nation, including the southern port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital Islamabad, confirmed at least 11 incidents in which KFC outlets were attacked by protesters armed with sticks and vandalized. At least 178 people were arrested, the officials said this week.
KFC and its parent Yum Brands, both US-based, did not respond to requests for comment.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one KFC employee was shot and killed this week in a store on the outskirts of Lahore by unknown gunmen. The official added there was no protest at the time and they were investigating whether the killing was motivated by political sentiment or some other reason.
In Lahore, police said they were ramping up security at 27 KFC outlets around the city after two attacks took place and five others were prevented.
“We are investigating the role of different individuals and groups in these attacks,” said Faisal Kamran, a senior Lahore police officer, adding that 11 people, including a member of the Islamist religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), were arrested in the city. He added the protests were not officially organized by TLP.
TLP spokesman Rehan Mohsin Khan said the group “has urged Muslims to boycott Israeli products, but it has not given any call for protest outside KFC.”
“If any other person claiming to be a TLP leader or activist has indulged in such activity, it should be taken as his personal act which has nothing to do with the party’s policy,” said Khan.
KFC has long been viewed as a symbol of the United States in Pakistan and borne the brunt of anti-American sentiment in recent decades with protests and attacks.
Western brands have been hit by boycotts and other forms of protests in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries in recent months over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Yum Brands has said one of its other brands, Pizza Hut, has faced a protracted impact from boycotts related to Israel’s war in Gaza.
In Pakistan, local brands have made inroads into its fast-growing cola market as some consumers avoid US brands. In 2023, Coca-Cola’s market share in the consumer sector in Pakistan fell to 5.7 percent from 6.3 percent in 2022, according to GlobalData, while PepsiCo’s fell to 10.4 percent from 10.8 percent.
Earlier this month, religious clerics in Pakistan called for a boycott of any products or brands that they say support Israel or the American economy, but asked people to stay peaceful and not destroy property.