Which one of the following countries has been suffering from decades of civil strife and food shortages and was in news in the recent past for its very severe famine?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Somalia
Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, is the country that fits: years of conflict plus a prolonged drought pushed it to the edge of famine in 2022, and UN agencies issued repeated famine warnings.
- ✓ (d) In April 2022 the UN agencies FAO, OCHA, UNICEF and WFP warned that millions of Somalis were at risk of sliding into famine because of prolonged drought, and WFP describes the country as facing protracted conflict, drought and displacement.
- ✗ (a) Angola is in southern Africa. It was not the subject of the UN famine warnings that made Somalia the news in 2022.
- ✗ (b) Costa Rica (Central America) and Ecuador (South America) had no comparable civil strife or famine warning, so options (b) and (c) are easily ruled out.
Remember · Somalia (Horn of Africa): protracted conflict plus a prolonged drought led UN agencies to warn of famine in 2022.
Sources
- OCHA: Joint FAO-OCHA-UNICEF-WFP Statement on the Drought Emergency in Somalia (12 April 2022) ↗ · reference work “Millions of Somalis are at risk of sliding into famine as the impact of a prolonged drought continues to destroy lives and livelihoods”
- World Food Programme: Somalia country page ↗ · reference work “Somalia faces complex challenges of protracted conflict, drought, displacement, limited social services and reduced humanitarian funding.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·