Mothers in a displacement camp in southern Somalia struggle to keep their children alive as drought and aid disruptions deepen hunger, a crisis that now also has a link to the far-away Iran war.
Read full article: JSO releases body camera video showing teen takeover at Blue Cypress Park in ArlingtonCity councilman says new affordable housing units along Beach Blvd are for ‘people who keep this city running’ Read full article: City councilman says new affordable housing units along Beach Blvd are for ‘people who keep this city running’Man who said JSO used excessive force during violent arrest hires high‑profile civil rights attorneysJacksonville woman faces sentencing in hammer killing of man she says groomed her as childNurto Madey, a mother displaced by drought, holds her daughter inside her makeshift hut at Ladan internally displaced persons camp in Dolow, southern Somalia, Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
A Somali mother holds her malnourished child as she waits to receive therapeutic food at a UNICEF-funded nutrition center in Dolow, Somalia, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Isho Isak sits with her malnourished child at Dolow Referral Hospital in southern Somalia after being affected by drought, Wednesday, March 25, 2026 UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell listens to a woman holding her malnourished child at Dolow Referral Hospital in southern Somalia after being affected by drought, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Sandra Lattouf, UNICEF Representative in Somalia, smiles at a mother of twin malnourished children at Dolow Referral Hospital in southern Somalia, Wednesday, March 25, 2026.Nurto Madey, a mother displaced by drought, holds her daughter inside her makeshift hut at Ladan internally displaced persons camp in Dolow, southern Somalia, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. or how UNICEF gets the supplies to keep the place running. The displaced here have fled the drought that has Their crops and livestock devastated, they show up at the camp, often with nothing but their children. Aid workers at Ladan say the raging war in the Middle East — more than 3,000 kilometers away — has made their work harder, disrupting supplies and sending fuel costs soaring.UNICEF says it has $15.7 million worth of lifesaving supplies — including therapeutic food, vaccines, and mosquito nets — in transit or being prepared for delivery to Somalia. But those shipments now are uncertain. Transport costs could rise by 30% to 60%, and even double on some routes, while delays caused by rerouting and backlog become more likely, the U.N. agency says. During a visit to Dollow on Wednesday, Catherine Russell, UNICEF's executive director, said the Iran war has been a “shock to the system” for the agency's work on the ground in Somalia. "It means that we can’t get supplies in as easily, and that fuel costs are really high,” she said. “It’s another problem that we have to try to deal with, and it means that more and more children will suffer.” At the same time, more than 400 health and nutrition facilities have closed over the past year across Somalia, due mainly toAll those issues have compounded the situation in Laden, where hunger threatens especially the youngest.In Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, the government warned last month that nearly 6.5 million people — out of the population of more than 20 million — face severe hunger as the drought worsens and conflict and global aid cuts intensify the country’s crisis. The humanitarian needs are just the tip of the iceberg as the Somali government grapples with its long-running war against the al-Qaida-linked, a global hunger monitoring group, estimates that 1.84 million children under the age of 5 in Somalia are expected to suffer acute malnutrition in 2026.In Ladan, spread across the town’s dusty outskirts, rows of makeshift shelters stretch under the harsh sun, fragile structures of plastic sheets and torn fabric held together by sticks and thorn branches. The camp is home to about 4,500 households. “We just want our children to survive," said Shamso Nur Hussein, a 20-year-old widow with three children. She fled their village in the Bakool region after losing all her farm animals.“Since morning we have only had black tea,” she told The Associated Press at the camp. At the hospital in Dollow, mothers sat shoulder to shoulder on narrow beds holding frail children, some too weak to cry while others let out soft whimpers.“Now we are receiving children in extremely critical condition — severely malnourished, weak, and in some cases almost skeletal,” he said.Roble said the hospital has only supplies to treat the malnourished"until mid-April or the end of April.”At Ladan's nutrition center, health workers weighed children and dispensed a peanut-based paste, squeezing it into the children’s mouths. It's a lifeline, a means to prevent rapid decline of the malnourished children, nurse Abdimajid Adan Hussein said. “Their weakened bodies make them vulnerable to pneumonia, diarrhea and other illnesses,” Hussein said.“We used to receive assistance from humanitarian agencies, but that stopped in September 2025,” said Abdifatah Mohamed Osman, Ladan's deputy chairman. “Now the little support we get is mainly therapeutic food for malnourished children.”The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’sCopyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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