Areas of southern Somalia are at risk of famine, two global food security monitors said on Thursday, with one district reaching a level of hunger not seen in the country since 2022. One of the world’s most food-insecure nations because of frequent drought, conflict and poverty, Somalia last experienced famine in 2011, when around 250,000 people died, and came close in 2017 and 2022. This time, global cuts to foreign aid and the impacts of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran are complicating efforts to respond to food shortages caused by multiple failed rain ​seasons and ongoing insecurity. More than 37% of young children in the Burhakaba District of southern Somalia’s Bay Region, which is estimated to have a population of around 200,000, suffer from acute malnutrition, according to a report by the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security ​Phase Classification.

Full report : Somali district faces famine risk amid failed rains, soaring prices, limited aid.