We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.
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They call Baydoa the “city of death.” The name dates to the famine of the 1990s. In Emre Çaylak’s reporting, it is not a relic of history but a present and ever worsening condition.
Inside a stabilization center, he meets Amina and her one-year-old son, Sharif. She walked for days to reach treatment. Sharif has already been admitted twice for life-saving nutritional care. He is stronger now, but his survival depends on therapeutic food that may soon run out.
In January 2025, under the Trump Administration, large portions of U.S. foreign aid were frozen. In Somalia—one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world—life-saving programs were cut almost overnight. More than 120 acute care facilities are at risk due to international aid reductions, with many already closed. Global aid cuts could contribute to more than 14 million preventable deaths by 2030, a third of them children under five.
Somalia sits at the intersection of deep poverty, protracted conflict, and climate stress. Severe droughts and floods destabilize agriculture. Large territories remain under the control or influence of Al-Shabaab, where access to health care and education is limited and taxation is coercive. As conflict intensifies and foreign troops face withdrawal, the health system’s fragility becomes existential.
Çaylak frames this as a direct line between policy and pulse. “This is a man-made famine by withdrawal,”. A decision made thousands of miles away becoming a measurable absence: fewer clinics, fewer supplies, fewer chances.
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About Emre Çaylak
Emre Çaylak is an award-winning Turkish photojournalist specializing in conflict and human rights reporting. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Economist 1843 Magazine and Der Spiegel.
Since 2022, he has documented the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His coverage of the Syrian War spans from its outbreak in 2011 through the recent fall of the Assad regime. His reporting focuses on the civilian consequences of geopolitical conflict, displacement, institutional collapse and the erosion of human rights.
Çaylak’s work extends across more than 30 countries. He has reported on the displacement crisis in Burkina Faso, the impact of international aid cuts in Somalia, and conducted investigative work on the exploitation of Syrian refugees in Turkey. In parallel with his international assignments, he maintains a long-term documentary project examining the social and political evolution of contemporary Turkey.
His clients include BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera, Save the Children, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Foreign Policy, Amnesty International, Reuters, CNN and numerous European and international outlets.
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