MOGADISHU, Somalia

The UN chief arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday for an official visit to the Horn of Africa country which is experiencing the worst drought in more than 40 years.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was welcomed by senior Somali government officials, including Foreign Minister Abshir Omar Jama Huruse, at Adan Adde International Airport in Mogadishu.

Guterres met with Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and discussed humanitarian challenges and the war on terrorism in the country, according to the Somali presidency.

The Somali presidential palace said Mohamud thanked the UN chief for his “historic and solidarity visit to Somalia.”

His visit comes as Somalia is witnessing one of the worst and longest droughts in recent history.

More than 6.5 million people in Somalia are projected to face crisis-level or worse food insecurity between this month and June this year, with 223,000 people likely to face “catastrophic hunger,” the UN said.

According to the UN, an estimated 43,000 people died due to the drought in 2022 alone – half of them children under 5 years old.

Since the start of the current drought, there have been over 1.5 million displacements.