MOGADISHU -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it will cut life-saving food assistance to hundreds of thousands of Somalis next month due to an unprecedented funding shortfall, worsening the plight of millions already struggling with hunger, climate shocks, and conflict.
According to the Associated Press, the WFP confirmed that the number of people receiving emergency food assistance in Somalia will plummet from 1.1 million in August to just 350,000 in November, citing what it described as "catastrophic funding conditions."
Ross Smith, WFP's Director of Emergency Response, said the agency's ability to respond to Somalia's escalating hunger crisis is "shrinking by the day."
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"We are witnessing a dangerous rise in emergency hunger levels, and our capacity to respond is being severely undermined by the funding gap," Smith said. "Without immediate financial support, families who were already on the edge will be pushed into catastrophe."
Somalia remains one of the world's most food-insecure countries, with 4.6 million people facing severe hunger, according to the latest UN report. Of those, 1.8 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year -- including 421,000 at risk of life-threatening severe malnutrition.
WFP said it currently has resources to assist only 180,000 of those children, underscoring the magnitude of the shortfall.
The agency warned that the coming months -- particularly the upcoming lean season -- could see an explosion in hunger-related deaths if the funding crisis is not urgently addressed.
The UN agency said it urgently requires $98 million to sustain minimum life-saving operations for about 800,000 people between now and March 2026.
This financial crisis follows drastic cuts in global humanitarian funding, particularly from the United States and other major donor nations, many of whom have reduced foreign aid budgets in response to domestic and geopolitical pressures.
The WFP, like several other UN humanitarian agencies, has been forced to scale back or suspend operations in multiple African nations facing overlapping emergencies -- including drought, floods, and ongoing conflicts.
Somalia has been devastated by the combined effects of climate change, decades of conflict, and economic instability. Repeated droughts followed by intense floods have destroyed crops, displaced families, and pushed rural communities into extreme poverty.
Meanwhile, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab continues to control portions of the countryside, disrupting humanitarian access and further endangering civilians.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently warned that Somalia's fragile recovery from famine-level conditions in 2022 is now "in serious jeopardy" due to both funding gaps and ongoing insecurity.
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The WFP's planned reduction in aid marks a grim turning point in Somalia's fight against hunger. Analysts warn that unless urgent international funding is restored, the humanitarian gains of the past two years could be erased, plunging hundreds of thousands into starvation.
Humanitarian experts have long cautioned that Somalia's dependence on external food aid -- while life-saving -- is unsustainable without stronger investment in local resilience, such as climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, and security stabilization.
As Somalia braces for worsening hunger, the looming cuts from the UN's flagship food agency send a chilling message about donor fatigue and the fragility of international solidarity.
Without swift financial intervention, aid groups warn that the coming months could bring one of the harshest hunger crises the Horn of Africa has seen in years -- one that may test not only Somalia's resilience but also the world's conscience.
