The humanitarian sector in Somalia is struggling to keep pace with an escalating food security crisis. Civilians fleeing famine-like conditions, including from areas controlled by militant group Al-Shabaab, face poor living conditions, disease outbreaks and uncertainty about their ability to return home.
About 2 million people are now internally displaced within Somalia, including those who fled before and after the current drought, according to the International Organization for Migration’s Somalia Chief of Mission Gerard Waite.
The IOM is following the movement of populations through its Displacement Tracking Matrix program, a system used to track and monitor human flight. The organization is also co-lead of the Camp Coordination and Camp Management cluster, together with the United Nations Refugee Agency. The group works with the Somali government to improve service delivery and living conditions in camps for internally displaced people.