Four major United Nations relief agencies have issued an urgent call for a rapid scale-up of life-saving humanitarian assistance in Somalia, warning that the country faces its gravest food security emergency since 2022. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released on Thursday, 15 May 2025, an estimated 6 million people — nearly a third of Somalia's population — are currently experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity through June 2025.

Scale of the Crisis

The agencies — the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP) — jointly issued the plea, as confirmed by Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Friday. The 6 million figure represents an increase of more than half a million people compared to earlier projections, underscoring how rapidly conditions have deteriorated.

Of those affected, 1.9 million are children, with 493,000 facing severe malnutrition. The updated IPC analysis projects that nearly 1.88 million children will require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2026 — 42,000 more than previously forecast. Without urgent intervention, severely malnourished children face a significantly higher risk of mortality, according to the report.

Famine Risk in Burhakaba District

This is the first time since 2022 that Somalia has been formally identified as being at risk of famine. The IPC has flagged Burhakaba district in the Bay region of Southwest State as the most critical flashpoint, where acute malnutrition has reached extremely critical levels and famine could emerge under a plausible worst-case scenario unless assistance is urgently scaled up.

'This is also the first time since 2022 that Somalia is at risk of famine — in Burhakaba district, in Southwest State,' Haq said. 'In 2022, famine was averted through massively scaled-up and sustained humanitarian interventions in the aftermath of the longest drought on record.'

Multiple Shocks Driving the Emergency

The worsening crisis is being driven by a convergence of factors: recurring severe drought, armed conflict, mass displacement, rising commodity costs, and sharply shrinking international aid budgets. The IPC report also highlights that global economic disruptions linked to instability around the Strait of Hormuz and the broader Middle East crisis have disrupted supply routes, making humanitarian operations increasingly difficult and expensive.

Notably, this compounding of climate and geopolitical shocks represents a new and more complex emergency than Somalia has faced in previous cycles — one where external factors beyond the country's borders are directly worsening conditions on the ground.

Response and the Window to Act

Humanitarian assistance is reportedly being scaled up in the most at-risk areas, but resources remain severely constrained. According to OCHA, George Conway, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, warned that nearly 90 per cent of people in need are currently receiving little or no support, and that there is 'a narrow but critical window of opportunity in the coming weeks to prevent famine through rapid and expanded humanitarian action.'

The situation draws a direct parallel to 2022, when a sustained international response ultimately averted famine. Whether that response can be replicated — given today's tighter donor budgets and more complex logistics — will determine the outcome in the weeks ahead.