The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed this Wednesday its "deep concern" over reports pointing to the death and injuries of several minors during the latest fighting recorded in Baidoa, in the southwest of Somalia. These incidents occur amid a new escalation of violence in a country plagued by a prolonged humanitarian crisis, marked by forced displacement of population, food insecurity, and very high levels of child malnutrition.
"Boys and girls are once again bearing the heaviest burden of violence," UNICEF pointed out, urging all parties involved to take immediate measures to safeguard children and ensure the protection of essential infrastructure.
The UN agency also demanded that schools and health centers continue to be protected spaces and that humanitarian organizations be allowed to access affected areas in a "safe and unhindered" manner.
"All boys and girls have the right to be safe, protected from violence, and to access the services they need to survive and fully develop," UNICEF emphasized, reiterating that "childhood must be protected at all times."
New escalation of violence in Baidoa
In recent weeks, Baidoa has become the scene of repeated armed clashes between government forces and fighters loyal to the regional former president, who was removed from office last March.
The military forces are trying to consolidate their control over the city, which they had managed to take over at the beginning of the year. According to local media, the situation worsened on Monday when thousands of local militiamen stormed Baidoa, causing a new intensification of hostilities.
In this context, UNICEF and other humanitarian actors have reiterated their fears about the impact of the clashes on the civilian population, particularly on minors, while warning of damage to a health center in the area.
Two million minors with malnutrition
The violence adds to a humanitarian emergency that Somalia has been dragging for decades. Repeated conflicts, mass displacements, disruptions in international trade, and extreme climate phenomena, such as droughts and floods, have steadily deteriorated food security in the country.
The United Nations estimates that around two million Somali children suffer from acute or severe malnutrition, a figure that places Somalia among the countries most affected by this problem worldwide.
The situation is especially alarming in Baidoa, where about 26,000 people face levels of food insecurity classified as catastrophic, the most severe degree of the international food insecurity classification, which implies a real risk of famine.
To this scenario is added the forecast that the meteorological phenomenon of "El Niño" will worsen conditions during the rainy season expected between October and December.
Families trapped between displacement and hunger
In light of this panorama, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the combination of violence, displacement, and lack of food is dramatically worsening the situation for numerous families, while its humanitarian response capacity has been severely limited by a lack of funds, following significant cuts to the resources allocated to its operations.
Compared to a few years ago, when the agency could provide food assistance to more than four million people a month, currently its programs only reach just over 670,000 people.
The WFP director in Somalia, Hameed Nuru, has recalled that the situation was already extremely serious during the drought of 2022, although at that time the arrival of additional funding allowed for a rapid expansion of aid and helped to prevent a famine.
"In 2022, when Somalia was suffering from the longest drought in 40 years, timely and generous funding helped to expand assistance to prevent famine," he stated.
Now, however, the agency has many fewer resources to respond to current needs. "Nowadays, the severe shortage of funds means that we are only reaching a fraction of the people in need, forcing us to make difficult decisions about who receives help and who does not," Nuru warned.
The United Nations' warning comes after the Somali government reported on Monday that its troops had inflicted "a great defeat" on Al Shabaab, linked to the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, and "militias" loyal to a former regional leader in the vicinity of Baidoa.
This armed clash reflects the increase in tensions between the federal Executive and the militias that support former president Abdiaziz Hasán Mohamed Laftagareenpor for control of the Southwest state. The federal troops, who now accuse the former leader of collaborating with Al Shabaab, took control of Baidoa in March after the resignation of the former regional leader, who had been directing the area since 2018.
The city, located about 250 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu, has already been the scene of similar confrontations in mid-August.