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The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) has announced a new emergency support plan to help nearly 100,000 Somalis affected by the worsening drought across the country. The pledge was made on Sunday by Yazeed Abdullah Hamoud, the Regional Director of KSrelief Africa, during his meeting with Mahamud Moalim Abdule, the Commissioner of the National Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA), in Mogadishu.
During their meeting, both sides discussed the rapidly escalating drought and the urgent need to speed up the delivery of aid to communities that are running out of water, food, and essential supplies. Yazeed emphasized that Saudi Arabia has always stood with Somalia in difficult times and will continue to support the country as it faces one of its most challenging humanitarian situations in years. He stressed that the Kingdom considers Somalia a close partner and remains committed to helping vulnerable families survive the growing crisis.
Commissioner Mahamud expressed deep gratitude for Saudi Arabia’s swift and consistent assistance, saying that the newly pledged support will greatly strengthen the ongoing response efforts led by government agencies and humanitarian organizations. He noted that the aid will help reach families in remote areas where the impact of the drought has been especially severe and where thousands of people are struggling to access clean water, food, and basic services.
Somalia is currently in the grip of a fast-intensifying drought that has left large parts of the country extremely dry after four consecutive failed rainy seasons. According to United Nations agencies, millions of people are now at risk of hunger, water shortages, and displacement as communities exhaust their remaining resources. The lack of rainfall has devastated crops, killed large numbers of livestock, and pushed many households to the brink of survival.
On 10 November, the Federal Government officially declared a drought emergency, warning that conditions were continuing to deteriorate across northern, central, and southern regions. The government appealed for immediate international assistance, stating that local capacity alone was not enough to manage the scale of the crisis. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reported that the number of people needing life-saving aid is rising quickly, and the situation could worsen further if the next rainy season fails.
Humanitarian agencies working in Somalia say that the combination of extreme dryness, limited access to water sources, and rising food prices has created a dangerous situation for families already struggling with years of conflict, displacement, and economic hardship. Many rural communities have been forced to move in search of water or assistance, while others remain in villages where wells have dried up and livestock losses continue to climb.
KSrelief’s new support package is expected to focus on the most affected regions, providing emergency food supplies, clean water, and other essentials to families facing immediate hardship. Both KSrelief and SoDMA emphasized the need for rapid coordination to ensure that the aid reaches communities before conditions worsen further. They also highlighted the importance of long-term resilience efforts that would help Somali communities better withstand future climate-related shocks.
As the drought continues to expand, humanitarian organizations are urging the international community to step up assistance to prevent further suffering. The new commitment from Saudi Arabia adds to ongoing global efforts, but aid agencies warn that a much larger response will be required to address the scale of the crisis and protect millions of Somali families in the coming months.