December 14, 2025 – Mogadishu: The Somali NGO Consortium (SNC) has issued a warning about the deteriorating drought situation, highlighting an impending humanitarian disaster as a significant reduction in international funding occurs simultaneously with growing humanitarian needs.

Data from the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) indicates that the drought is pushing 3.4 million people into severe acute food insecurity nationwide. During the October to December 2025 projection period, the food security outlook is anticipated to deteriorate due to forecast below-normal seasonal rainfall. Inadequate rainfall and elevated food prices are expected to leave 4.4 million individuals (23 percent of the population) in heightened acute food insecurity.

Approximately 1.85 million children between 6 and 59 months old are predicted to experience acute malnutrition requiring immediate care from July 2025 through June 2026. This encompasses an estimated 421,000 children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 1.43 million children with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM).

We are observing a troubling convergence: the drought intensifies precisely as reductions in global humanitarian funding create a preventable and dangerous crisis. Lifesaving resources are diminishing while communities become increasingly vulnerable. Somalia cannot afford to jeopardize the recent progress achieved, stated Ms. Nimo Hassan, Director of the Somali NGO Consortium.

Communities face escalating and interconnected challenges: depleting water resources, rising essential food costs, increasing livestock mortality, and extensive agricultural failure are forcing families to the edge of survival.

The drought has transitioned from prediction to present reality. Communities are approaching a critical threshold. As the drought situation worsens, the hardship among the populations we support intensifies. DRC Somalia is providing assistance in multiple areas, yet our resources, along with our partners’ capabilities, are grossly inadequate. Swift, collaborative assistance is essential to avoid a further escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, stated Filip Lozinski, Country Director of Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Somalia.

This emergency occurs as numerous major international donors have announced substantial cuts to humanitarian aid. The operational repercussions are both immediate and substantial, directly affecting more than 70% of non-governmental organizations dependent on humanitarian support. Critical assistance programs are being reduced or eliminated, while multiple organizations have had to terminate up to 65% of their personnel, severely limiting their ability to respond at a time when needs are expanding.

National entities such as GREDO are on the front lines daily observing both the suffering and the resilience of Somali communities. We urgently appeal to donors, partners, and the global community to expand lifesaving interventions, invest in early recovery initiatives, and enable local responders to act more swiftly. The opportunity for delay has concluded, and immediate action is required to prevent a comprehensive humanitarian catastrophe, stated Alinur Ali Aden, Executive Director of GREDO.

As humanitarian requirements intensify while constrained resources diminish, Somalia approaches a dangerous threshold. The spreading Emergency (IPC 4) conditions indicate not only intensifying hardship but the substantial risk of preventable mortality. The coming months will be critical, demanding immediate measures to prevent further decline and safeguard the most at-risk populations.

We appeal to traditional donors, Gulf nations, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector to take immediate action and mobilize resources, urged Ms. Hassan. Each day of inaction moves vulnerable communities closer to disaster. Somalia cannot confront this crisis independently. The time for global solidarity has arrived, Nimo concluded.