Internally displaced Somali women rest in front of their makeshift shelter after fleeing from drought in the Lower Shabelle region to the camp in Mogadishu, Somalia February 20, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Feisal Omar)
The UN's warning followed a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which showed that a third of Somalia's population may face crisis levels of hunger or worse by March, an increase of 1.7 million people since January.

About 2 million individuals are currently experiencing severe hunger and more than 1.8 million children under five will also face acute malnutrition in 2026, with almost half a million of them likely to be severely malnourished.

The drought in Somalia has had a devastating effect on agriculture, with widespread crop and livestock losses in addition to large scale displacements of people.