Somalia Facing Potentially Devastating Three-Pronged Threat To Food Security

HUGH RIDDELL

Amid recent and promising signs of recovery following nearly 30 years of turmoil, Somalia again finds itself in crisis.

This time, the threat is threefold;  a global pandemic, the return of seasonal flooding, and a new generation of desert locusts— at once invisible and visible, relentless, and indiscriminate in laying waste to lives and livelihoods.

Short of a massive and urgent response to help the country and affected communities absorb the blow and to aid in their recovery, millions of Somalis could face acute food insecurity—or worse—in coming months.

A month and a half after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the capital Mogadishu and much of the country remains under lockdown—with commercial flights grounded and schools, offices, and borders closed—in a bid to curb the virus’s spread. As of mid-May, there are more than 1,050 confirmed cases and 51 deaths have been reported; the highest death