Horn of Africa: UNICEF urges airlines to cut costs of delivering aid

Source: Global Food Security Crises

2 August 2011 – As aid agencies continue to scale up their response to the dire humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is appealing to the air transport sector to provide free and discounted cargo space to bring emergency food supplies into the region.

“Commercial air transport costs as much as the value of the food,” Marixie Mercado, UNICEF’s spokesperson in Geneva, told a news conference there.

British Airways, Lufthansa, UPS Virgin and Cargolux have already offered free or discounted cargo space, and UNICEF is appealing to other carriers to help transport food aid from Europe to the region to help children who will die without it.

Drought in the Horn of Africa has ravaged large areas of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, leaving an estimated 12.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid. UN agencies and their partners are seeking $1.4 billion so they can scale up their response to the hunger crisis, which has already claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Yesterday UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos warned that the famine in two areas of southern Somalia could spread to five or six more regions unless there is a massive increase in funding.

Ms. Mercado stated that more than half of the 2.3 million acutely malnourished children in the Horn of Africa could die unless they are fed within weeks.

Every month, UNICEF had about 5,000 tons of therapeutic and supplementary food to move from warehouses in Belgium, France and Italy – enough to feed 300,000 malnourished children.

This food has to be brought into Nairobi as quickly as possible, and bringing it by air is extremely costly, she noted. The other alternative is to transport the food via sea, for which UNICEF is setting up a pipeline, but that would take several more weeks.

“The caseload is quite extraordinary,” said Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF’s Director of Emergency Programmes, who just returned to New York from a trip to the Horn of Africa. “Having the airlines to support us would be most welcome, and I think there’s a lot of goodwill out there to do just that.”

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that its ability to deliver much-needed aid is being hampered by the ongoing fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

There were already more than 370,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu before the recent drought- and famine-related displacement, which has driven some 100,000 others into the war-ravaged city, according to the agency.

“The ongoing offensive is negatively affecting the ability of UNHCR and other partners to deliver assistance to populations in distress at a time when their needs are most urgent,” said UNHCR spokesperson Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba. “We need to maintain access to these people.”

Meanwhile, the flow of refugees from Somalia into Kenya continues unabated, with more than 40,000 Somalis arriving in the Dadaab refugee complex – already the largest and most congested in the world – in July. This is the highest monthly arrival rate in the camp’s 20-year history, UNHCR said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it is continuing to work in areas affected by the hunger crisis, especially in Somalia where other agencies had severe access problems. The agency is trying to provide cash-for-work programmes, helping famine-hit farmers and herders in Somalia to feed their families.

FAO is following this up with the distribution of seeds and tools, water trucking, vaccination and treatment of animals, meaning that households could quickly resume their farming and livelihoods production in time for the coming rains in September and October, spokesperson Sandra Aviles told reporters.

She also warned that the existence of large displaced populations was placing an enormous strain on the host communities in Kenya and Ethiopia, along with the natural resources of the surrounding areas, and could lead to tension over access to vital resources.

Famine in Somalia: The story you are not likely to hear any time soon

by RASNA WARAH

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Source: Daily Nation

I knew the real story about the famine in northern Kenya and Somalia would probably never be told when I watched a young foreign aid worker “reporting” the famine for CNN in Dadaab camp.

The young white woman, clearly coached to use the opportunity of her CNN appearance to publicise her organisation, wore a T-shirt that had the word OXFAM emblazoned on it.

The look of self-righteous, politically-correct compassion was evident on her face as she talked of starving children and emaciated mothers walking for miles in search of food.

Predictably, CNN viewers saw images of skeletal children and exhausted women with shrivelled breasts, images that have launched a multi-million dollar fund-raising campaign by the UN and donor agencies.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has asked donors to raise $1.6 billion to assist Somalia alone.

Meanwhile, dozens of humanitarian agencies are clamouring to make an appearance in Dadaab in order to raise funds for their own organisations. Dutch journalist Linda Polman calls it “The Crisis Caravan”.

In her book by the same name, Polman says that an entire industry has grown around humanitarian aid, “with cavalcades of organisations following the flow of money and competing with each other in one humanitarian territory after another for the biggest achievable share of billions.”

According to Polman, disasters like the one in Somalia attract an average 1,000 national and international aid organisations. This doesn’t include “briefcase” charities that collect funds through churches, clubs and bake-sales.

Much of the money raised goes to administrative and logistical costs of aid agencies, including the salaries of bright-eyed aid workers, such as the one described above, who drive big cars and live in nice houses, but tell people back home they live in hardship areas where they help starving Africans.

Are people starving? Yes. Should they be helped? Of course. But how much of the food that is supposed to be distributed will most likely be stolen by militia or find its way to shops where it will be sold?

Also obscured in the media hype is the real cause of famine in places such as Somalia. In a recent article, Michel Chossudovsky, professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and founder of the Centre for Research on Globalisation, argues that in the 1980s, agriculture in Somalia was severely affected by economic reforms imposed by the IMF and the World Bank. Somalia remained self-sufficient in food until the late 1970s despite recurrent droughts, he writes.

The economic reforms, which included austerity measures and privatisation of essential services, destabilised the economy and destroyed agriculture.

Wages in the public sector were drastically reduced, urban purchasing power declined dramatically and the cost of fuel, fertiliser and farm inputs shot up. This set the stage for the civil war in 1991, from which Somalia has yet to recover.

Famine and food aid became the norm, as hundreds of aid agencies set up shop to handle a crisis that was of their own making.

In short, Somalia became a “business opportunity” that provided jobs to hundreds, if not thousands of (mostly Western) aid agency employees.

Nicholas Stockton, a former Oxfam executive director, once called this phenomenon “the moral economy”.

Michael Maren, whose book, The Road to Hell, should be required reading for those who want to understand the politics and economy of food aid, shows how this aid suppressed local food production in Somalia, fuelled civil war and created a permanent food crisis.

This crisis and the lack of a strong, well-functioning central government have also resulted in a situation where aid agencies are zipping in and out of Somalia without any vetting by the government.

In effect, Somalia is being managed and controlled by aid agencies — the government is there in name only.

Unfortunately, this story is unlikely to be told on CNN, BBC, Sky TV or other global news networks that dominate the international news agenda.

And it will certainly not be told by the aid workers whose livelihoods depend on donor money that will soon flow into Somalia via Kenya.

Nor will the Somali people be given an opportunity to explain to viewers what impact food aid and foreign intervention have had on their lives.

E-mail: rasna.warah@gmail.com

Letter to Somali Diaspora from Mahiga

Nairobi, 3 August 2011                                                      Download letter to Somali Diaspora

As-Salaamu Alaikum,

Dear friends,

My warmest greetings to you all, wherever you are, at this most important time of the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a time for renewal so it is appropriate that I write to you now to update you on the situation and to take stock, together, of where we are.

As I write this all our thoughts are with those suffering from the terrible effects of the famine. It is truly heart wrenching to see the images of the starving children and their desperate parents unable to provide any food. The appalling stories of suffering from those who remained inside Somalia and those who walked for days and weeks to the refugee camps have moved us all deeply. The UN family is doing everything it can to bring supplies into the country and the region. Last week I attended the emergency meeting on the food and humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, convened by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where more than $120 million was pledged. I also saw for myself an airlift of food aid from Brindisi, Italy destined for the refugee camps.

I applaud the efforts of those Somalis who are raising funds and sending urgently needed aid to their brothers and sisters. While in Rome I met a group of Somalis from the Diaspora and was touched by their selfless desire to organize and ship humanitarian assistance to the famine-hit region and to increase the remittances they send back. I appeal to all those who are able - Somalis and the international community alike - to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further.

And yet, in the midst of these crises, this is a hopeful moment. On the political side there have been some significant developments over the past few months. The Kampala Accord of June this year broke the political deadlock that had paralyzed the peace process. His Excellency, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Honourable Speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden put their differences aside and, standing side by side, agreed to work together towards ending the Transition. I am extremely grateful to Uganda’s President, His Excellency Yoweri Museveni, for being the guarantor of the Accord which received rapid and overwhelming approval in the Somali Parliament. This new spirit of cooperation has continued with the timely selection and endorsement of a new Cabinet, well ahead of the deadline laid out in the Kampala Accord. I congratulate all concerned.

This is a time of opportunity. The new Government has one year to demonstrate it is serious about making progress. There is a huge amount to be achieved before August next year. The most pressing concern is the adoption of the Roadmap with priority given to the finalization of the draft constitution following wide consultations. There must also be significant progress on other priority tasks including improving security, legislative and governmental reform and national reconciliation and this must include the TFIs reaching out to the regions.

The UN will, of course, do its part. We are helping to draft the Roadmap which will chart the course forward in addressing the challenging political tasks ahead. This is a collaborative effort, headed by the Somali leadership but with input from the international community, in particular the AU, the East African Community, IGAD, the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Conference. These will also be involved in monitoring the progress of the Roadmap which will be discussed and endorsed at a High Level Consultative Meeting to be held in Somalia in the coming weeks.

Despite this progress, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate and cower the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst hit areas. We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help. Meanwhile the Transitional Federal Government, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is taking action right now to open up areas in Mogadishu to allow humanitarian aid to flow in. Sadly, even in the midst of this humanitarian crisis, the violence continues. The insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries. And the opponents of peace continue to use their terrorist tactics to destabilize the country. Just this week a Somali parliamentarian, Khalif Jire Warfa, was shot dead as he left a mosque in Mogadishu in a cowardly attack which I strongly condemn.

We will continue to stand by you in the difficult days ahead. Almost thirty staff members from my office are now based in Somalia. I myself, my deputy, Christian Manahl, and my staff have made several trips to Mogadishu to discuss various issues with the leadership and a wide range of Somali interlocutors. We have also been to Garowe and Hargeisa and will continue to expand our offices throughout. I believe it is most important that we spend as much time in Somalia as possible to see the situation for ourselves and hear the views of those living there. Travelling to Mogadishu also provides a good opportunity to meet the AMISOM peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi who are doing a remarkable job in very difficult and dangerous circumstances. I salute their courage and their sacrifice.

I appeal to all Somalis, whether inside or outside Somalia, to work together to support the peace process and resolve what differences remain through dialogue and negotiation. This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all.

During this Holiest Month in the Muslim calendar, let me take this opportunity to wish all of you Ramadan Kareem and to offer this one simple hope: let there be peace.

Yours Sincerely,

Augustine Mahiga

Somali refugees get UAE aid supplies

UAE Red Crescent Authority and Khalifa Foundation distribute
food supplies of rice, maize, cookin oil, and dates to refugees at
a camp in Mogadishu

Mogadishu: The UAE aid and rescue team has started handing out emergency humanitarian aid to refugees in Somalia.

Thousands of people affected by drought and famine in the Horn of Africa were given food supplies.

The team, which includes the Red Crescent Authority, and the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation, launched the first phase of the plan to ward off the shadow of famine in Somalia.

The plan targets refugees in camps around Mogadishu which house tens of thousands of refugees who have fled their drought-stricken regions and arrived at the camps in bad condition as a result of hunger and thirst.

The UAE food aid convoy delivered relief supplies to the refugee camp six kilometres away from the capital Mogadishu. The supplies included rice, maize, cooking oil and dates.

The team members met with the refugees who talked about their additional needs. Fresh aid convoys will aim to cover those in need as well as other refugee camps in Somalia.

Mohammad Ahmad Nour Trsen, Mogadishu's governor who accompanied the UAE aid convoy, said there were 350,000 refugees distributed in 55 camps all over the capital.

The UAE team also found that the refugee camps lacked basic health and hygiene facilities due to overcrowding. Most children suffered from acute malnutrition.

MSF demands an end to delays and restrictions for Somalis needing aid and refuge

In light of the worsening nutritional crisis in Somalia, the international medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders) urges all parties inside Somalia, neighbouring countries and the international community to significantly improve assistance to the Somali population in the region and remove all the hurdles that are currently preventing the expansion of independent aid inside Somalia.

The current crisis is mostly affecting Somalis. To assess the full needs of the population in Somalia, and to expand the emergency response in this complex environment, independent and immediate access inside Somalia is essential.

With limited assistance available in Somalia, thousands of Somalis are arriving each week at camps in the border areas of neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. MSF teams report extremely high malnutrition rates amongst new arrivals, with one child out of three suffering from acute malnutrition. Together with their families, they face long delays in receiving aid because of an official ‘closed border’ policy, and because of administrative hurdles at reception sites in the camps, before having to compete for the limited aid available in overstretched, chaotic and overpopulated refugee camps such as Dadaab in Kenya and Dolo Ado in Ethiopia.

Throughout the affected region, MSF is treating over 10,000 severely malnourished children in its feeding centres and clinics. “Every affected person should receive aid, inside Somalia or when fleeing to neighbouring countries,” says Jean Clément Cabrol, MSF’s Director of Operations. “Kenya and Ethiopia host the vast majority of Somali refugees and should prioritise the opening of new camps and improve the existing ones. But the international community has a shared responsibility to help Somalis seeking refuge by ensuring efficient registration, adequate food rations and shelter in existing and new camps. The current bureaucratic restrictions and obstacles are causing unnecessary delays and all measures should be taken to respond to the emergency.”

Weakened by 20 years of armed conflict, the condition of the Somali population is aggravated by failed harvests due to drought, by dying livestock and by high food prices. Ongoing restrictions on the movement of international aid workers and on the supply lines of their organisations have further delayed and limited the aid available to the population. “Our feeding centres are operating beyond their original capacity and, compared to last year, are receiving weekly up to seven times more patients in certain locations,” says Arjan Hehenkamp, MSF’s General Director. “We are currently treating more than 3,000 malnourished children inside Somalia: some 600 children under the age of five in intensive therapeutic feeding centres, and more than 2,500 children in ambulatory feeding centres. We urgently need to get more resources in to help all those new arrivals and increase our response in all affected regions.” In various locations, such as in the Lower Juba Valley, spontaneous camps are emerging, populated by up to 5,000 people at a time who have fled their villages and rural areas in search of food and help.

“Fighting in Somalia, restrictions on supply flights and international support staff, and administrative hurdles have all contributed to the current hardship faced by the Somali population today,” says Unni Karunakara, MSF’s International President. “It is essential that both restrictions and obstacles to humanitarian aid are removed as the situation continues to worsen.”

MSF has worked continuously in Somalia since 1991 and currently provides free medical care in eight regions of southern Somalia. Over 1,400 Somali staff, supported by approximately 100 staff in Nairobi, provide free primary healthcare, malnutrition treatment, healthcare and support to displaced people, surgery, and distributions of water and relief supplies in nine locations in South Central Somalia.

MSF does not accept any government funding for its projects in Somalia; all of its funding comes from private donors.

For interview requests, please contact MSF UK Press Officer, Heather Whelan, on heather.whelan@london.msf.org or +44 7770 235 740.

Somali women tend to their children, who are being treated for severe malnutrition, at a hospital operated by the International Rescue Committee, in Hagadera Camp, Kenya.

17 July 2011, Sunday / KATY MIGIRO, WAJI

One-year-old Siad Abdikadir was so weak that he could not support his own head, resting it on his mother’s heavily pregnant stomach.

He squirmed occasionally, trying to remove the feeding tube from his nose. But mostly he was quiet, motionless and exhausted. The malnourished children filling northern Kenya’s Wajir District Hospital represent a fraction of the millions of nomads across the region struggling to maintain their traditional lifestyles in the face of recurring, severe droughts. “I saw he was deteriorating. He had diarrhea, vomiting, fever, mouth ulcers and a cough,” said his mother, 28-year-old Habiba Ibrahim. “But I had six other children at home and no one to take care of them.” Siad’s family are what are known locally as ‘dropouts’ from the pastoralist ethnic Somali community that lives in Wajir, 600 km (373 miles) from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. His father is a casual laborer, earning 400 Kenya shillings ($4.50) a day when he can find work. “Life became very hard,” said Ibrahim, swatting a fly away from her baby’s eye. “Work was reliable before but casual workers became too many.” Destitutes beg for food Ten million people across the Horn of Africa are going hungry as the livestock upon which they depend die off because of severe drought, according to the United Nations. In northern Kenya, towns have mushroomed as destitute families camp on the outskirts, hoping that well-wishers will give them food and water. They are mostly women, children and the elderly. The young men have migrated to Somalia and neighboring districts with their few surviving animals, although the situation is little better there. “This is the only meal the family is eating today,” said Fatuma Ahmed, cooking pancakes for her seven children as the sun rose. “If I get a meal from well-wishers, I cook for the children. If I don’t, we sleep hungry,” the 38-year-old widow said, crouched inside her dome-shaped stick shelter. Somalis’ culture and Islamic faith oblige them to share the little that they have. “When you go home, you meet people waiting  to share your lunch,” said Mohamed Dahiye, a nurse in Wajir hospital. “You don’t even know them, but you have to respond.” MPs ‘blind to the dying’ With recurrent droughts and growing populations, pastoralism is becoming untenable without massive investment to support it. Columns of dust spin over the barren landscape, littered with carcasses and abandoned villages. Roads are just sandy tracks snaking between grey thorn bushes. There is no mobile phone network outside the major towns. The region has been neglected since the colonial era. “MPs are blind to people dying,” said Osman Salat, a Nairobi businessman who came to give some money to his relatives, referring to the region’s lawmakers. The soil is fertile and irrigation could make farming viable. But development is expensive. Simply installing a borehole costs 5 million shillings ($56,000). Budgets are consumed by the current crisis. The charity World Vision has been trucking life-saving water to 24 communities in Habaswein District since December, at a cost of 250,000 shillings a day, according to project manager Jacob Alemu. Dahiye, the nurse, said people needed to consider the future. “Instead of looking for the root cause, we are mostly being fed with relief food,” she said. “This will not take us forward. We should sit and look for long term solutions.” Some pastoralists are starting to send their children to school, hoping that education will offer them choices that their parents never had. “The time of moving around with animals is fading,” said 49-year-old Dekow Farah, who settled in Fini village nine months ago. Farah had spent his entire life traversing Kenya with his livestock, looking for pasture and water, with the family’s possessions strapped to their camels’ backs. Now, two of his nine children, Zakaria, nine, and Abdi, six, are attending the local government school, a simple hut made of sticks in the middle of the village. “Because of droughts like this one, it’s good to settle down and take the children to school so they can learn how to cope with the modern world,” he said. “I don’t see a future in the nomadic way of life.” In the last year, he lost 450 sheep and goats, six cattle and two camels to the drought. He had 50 sheep and goats and two camels left. “I settled here so that I can get aid from the government or non-governmental organizations and I might get casual work,” he said, chewing on a stick. He hadn’t found either yet but he was philosophical: “Everything has a time limit and one day we are going to get out of this problem, God willing.” Reuters Millions at risk of cholera in Ethiopia, WHO warns  Five million people are at risk of cholera in drought-hit Ethiopia, where acute watery diarrhoea has broken out in crowded, unsanitary conditions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday. Cholera, an acute intestinal infection, causes watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given, according to the United Nations agency. “Overall, 8.8 million people are at risk of malaria and 5 million of cholera (in Ethiopia),” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in a note sent to journalists. Ethiopian health officials have confirmed cases of acute watery diarrhoea in the Somali, Afar and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia, he told Reuters. “It is not confined to the refugees.” Drought across the Horn of Africa, now affecting more than 11 million people in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia, has increased the risk of the spread of infectious diseases, especially polio, cholera and measles, the WHO says. Somalis fleeing severe drought and intensified fighting have been arriving at the rate of more than 1,700 a day in Ethiopia, where 4.5 million people now need assistance, nearly a 50 percent rise since April, he said. Two million children in Ethiopia are at risk of catching measles, a disease that can be deadly in children, he said. Ethiopian officials reported 17,584 measles cases and 114 deaths during the first half of the year, UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said. The majority of cases were in children. Measles has also broken out in the sprawling Kenyan Dadaab camps, with 462 cases confirmed including 11 deaths, Jasarevic said. Dadaab, an overcrowded complex of three camps, now holds some 440,000 refugees, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.Geneva Reuters Soucre: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-250673-starving-kenyan-children-trapped-between-two-worlds.html

Rising death toll feared as drought spreads

NAIROBI, 11 July 2011 (IRIN) - Civil society groups are rallying together to help the vulnerable as the drought ravaging Somalia spreads to hitherto unaffected areas, amid concerns that hunger-related deaths are dramatically increasing. 

"We are knocking on every door to collect help; nothing is too small," Asha Sha'ur Ugas, a member of a civil society drought committee, told IRIN. "Many people have already died and many more will die if help does not arrive soon - and by soon I mean right now." She said they were already getting reports of people who died on the way and "ones who died after they reached Mogadishu [the capital]", adding, "most of the deaths were children and very weak adults, such as the elderly, pregnant and lactating mothers". She said civil society officials were appealing to Somalis at home and abroad to help. Ugas said in Mogadishu, school-children, market women and businesses had been donating whatever they could. She said civil society groups were prepared to deliver relief aid to any region or area "no matter who was in control. We are prepared to go anywhere in the country if that would help the needy." She urged agencies willing to help to use whatever means to access those in need. "I am well aware that it is not easy accessing some of the most vulnerable areas but agencies should not shy away from using unorthodox methods to get to them," she said. "We can help, elders can help and women in those areas can also help. "We have not seen anything like this in decades; in the past, we had droughts but those affected only some regions, this is affecting more regions than ever before." She added that the current drought was worse than that of 1992, better known as "Caga Barar" (swollen feet), because of its scope. "Caga Barar was mainly confined to the Bay and Bakol areas [southern Somalia]," she said. "This one has much greater reach."

Al-Shabab about-turn 

Most of southern and central Somalia, where the drought is worst, is under the control of the Islamist Al-Shabab group. In the past, it banned aid agencies in areas under its control but recently announced that "both Muslim and non-Muslim agencies are welcome to help". Warning that thousands of people could die in the absence of immediate humanitarian assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 80 percent of the 476,000 malnourished children in Somalia – up from 376,000 at the start of 2011 – live in areas controlled by Al-Shabab. One aid worker in Mogadishu said few had faith in the group's announcement. "On the one hand they are saying agencies are welcome and on the other hand they are trying to stop desperate people leaving areas under their control, to look for help," the aid worker said. A civil society source, who requested anonymity, said times were desperate and "we need to take them at their word if we are going to save lives. We have nothing to lose by calling their bluff... If they are genuine, then it is a win-win situation." Ibrahim Isak Yarrow, the acting Minister of Interior of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and a member of a ministerial drought committee, said the situation was extremely bad and "will probably get worse". Noting that more and more people displaced by the drought were coming to Mogadishu, Yarrow said: "Our estimates are [that] in the last few days, between 5,500 and 6,000 families [33,000 and 36,000 people] have arrived." He said the number of new arrivals was expected to reach 10,000 families [60,000 people] by month-end. The government has appealed for assistance. "We are working on an appeal document right now." A local journalist in the north of Mogadishu told IRIN most of the earlier drought-displaced were from southern Somalia, "but we are seeing a new influx from the central regions". Many of the new arrivals were in a terrible state. "Every family seems to have lost a loved on the trek to the city or immediately upon arrival." He said the drought-displaced was settling in abandoned buildings across the city while others were building temporary shelters in open fields. The trouble, he said, was that the new arrivals were settling sometimes in contested areas of the city, "making it difficult to reach them". 

ah/mw 

Cholera outbreak in Hobyo and emergency response from UNICEF and GSA

By Ilyaas Mohamed

Following reportedly cholera outbreak in Xarardheere town, much attention hasn’t been paid to it and hence no emergency response carried out except alarming of the situation.

 While GSA have been closely monitoring the situation in Xarardheere and been alarming the cholera outbreak, some days after the diseases spread to Xindawaco village about 30km south Hobyo and then to Hobyo town and surrounding areas. Once again GSA officers in the field alarmed the Hobyo case and warned of massive death of community members in the area unless comprehensive response ranging from health to WASH takes place urgently.

The reported Cholera on 13^th June 2011 which is tested and confirmed by WHO really shocked GSA because of our previous held commitment to conduct pipeline system from Gawaan borehole which has not yet started.  The major contributing factor of rapid spread of the disease in hobyo town is that contacts of human wastes in pits of toilets and water table as well as bad hygiene and sanitation norms  and health awareness .

Emergency response

In collaboration with UNICEF SCZ particularly WASH Department, GSA provided one drum of chlorine of calcium hypochlorite hydrated to Hobyo community.  Meanwhile, GSA team carried out wells chlorination for 10 volunteers nominated by the community as well as one health worker from the MCH. The volunteers have been exposed to theoretical and practical aspect of hand dug wells chlorination. Under supervision of GSA WASH team, the chlorinators have been split in to two groups to fully cover South and North divisions of the village.

First priority has been given to chlorination of wells that is mostly utilized for drinking and located in the corners of the village. Massive chlorination of all wells in the town is little bit a challenging task. Worth to note that the town has more than 300 hundred hand dug wells that make treatment and measurement and calculations process very challenging.

Being our goal to reduce mortality and morbidity among community in Hobyo, the emergency response launched by UNICEF/GSA has done a lot to reduce the cases of cholera after massive treatment of wells in the town. However, yet there should be complementary activities to be carried out in conjunction with chlorination that is hygiene and sanitation promotion combined with health promotion. At this stage it’s highly expected that the disease would be gone and all out health atmosphere would be felt.

Nevertheless, availability of volunteers from the community and commitment of community elders have played great deal and notable role inspiring relief teams with full courage to carry out the operation.  

Gaps and needs:

During UNICEF/GSA operation in the town, the most wanting gap identified was lack of appropriate space in the MCH where sick people have no enough space to be hospitalized, a matter makes health response very difficult and preventable death risks imminent. 

Shortage of medicines particularly for cholera cases treatment might lead to increased mortality rates unless addressed and urgently provided required medical supplies.

Treatment of waters in the wells is not only the absolute solution for preventing break out of cholera, but also complementary works should come along such as hygiene and sanitation promotion on HH and community levels.

Recommendations:

We recommend the following issues to be addressed urgently:

• Highly alertness of possibilities of cholera outbreak in other areas in the region.
• Carrying out massive HH and community level hygiene, sanitation and health promotion to eliminate risks of cholera contracting by community in Hobyo.
•  Emergency Provision of tents for the MCH where all routine works have been blocked until cholera phases out. 
• Emergency Supply of cholera and AWD medicines to cover current and likely imminent needs.
•  Considering establishment of a hospital for Hobyo and villages under it.
• Provision of qualified medical personnel
• Provision of chlorine supplies for emergency preparedness against possible cholera/AWD outbreak in the area.

Drought hits 2.4m Somalis

Somalia is suffering the effects of its worst drought in 36 years, with most areas of the country having received little rain for at least nine months.

 

Concern Worldwide 

With most areas of Somalia having received little rain for at least nine months, due to the La Niña phenomenon,the country is suffering the effects of its worst drought in 36 years. 

"Pastures are being depleted and animals are dying in their thousands," explains Sarah Robinson, Programme Adviser for Concern in Somalia.

"Already 2.4 million people have been drastically affected.  Many are dependent on their livestock for survival. Without them, they are left with nothing."

Children are being particularly affected by the lack of food and water; in some areas malnutrition is affecting over 30 percent of children, one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world. 

People in Somalia are no strangers to harsh conditions and since the 1990s have suffered the effects of civil war and successive droughts. Atpresent there are 1.46 million internally displaced people in Somalia, and over 650,000 Somali refugees in neighboring countries.

In addition to this adversity, the price of basic goods is rising and the cost of cereals has increased by up to 135% since last year.  "A trio of drought, conflict and increased prices is pushing Somalia towards a severe humanitarian crisis." states Ms Robinson.

Concern has decades of experience in Somalia and strong links with local communities.  "We are responding to this crisis, and reaching 100,000 of the most vulnerable people with clean water, food and nutritional care, but more needs to be done and greater funding is required if this disaster is to be managed," says Ms Robinson.

"It's not only Somalia that is badly affected," she adds.  "There are over 3 million affected by the drought, and in need of relief in Ethiopia too, whilst 2 million people in Kenya are facing critical conditions. "60,000 livestock in one area alone along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border have died in recent weeks." Concern is also responding to the crisis in Kenya and Ethiopia with similar programmes of water, nutrition and livestock protection.

 "As the drought intensifies enormous strain will be put on the people in The Horn of Africa. It's imperative that the international community act now to protect livelihoods and prevent the loss of life."

ENDS

Stigma, insecurity hold back HIV fight in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, 3 May 2011 (PlusNews) - Residents of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, are understandably more concerned with dodging bullets than avoiding HIV, but this lack of knowledge means widespread ignorance about HIV prevention, while people who are HIV-positive are often ostracized by their communities.

Today, Nasteho Farah Elmi is an active member of an organization for people living with HIV/AIDS, but six years ago, when her family found out she was HIV-positive, they sent her away.

"When my relatives found out... they gave me 50,000 Somali shillings [US$1.80] because they didn't have any idea about the disease; they thought it could even be transmitted by looking at me," Elmi told IRIN/PlusNews. "Moving from Afgoye [southern Somalia] to Mogadishu was strange because I didn't know where to live.

"By Allah's mercy I formed a Somali civil society organization named SOPHA [Ururka Faya-dhawrka Soomaaliyeed], which has supported me," she added. "Now I am married a man who has HIV too and we continue to live together here in Mogadishu."

According to local civil society organizations in Mogadishu, more than 300 HIV-positive individuals are registered and receiving care and support, including food supplements from the UN World Food Programme.

"Five places are testing [for HIV] in Mogadishu... people are referred for psycho-social support after they are diagnosed," said Mohamed Sa'id, social director of the local NGO, South Central People Living with HIV. "Our members include civil servants, soldiers and so on, but they are not known because if anyone knew them, we are afraid they will be discriminated against."

But it is particularly hard to work in areas of Mogadishu controlled by the Islamist insurgent group, Al-Shabab.

"We [SOPHA] have two centres; a treatment centre in Marka, in Lower Shabelle region and our head office is in Mogadishu's government-controlled areas," said Elmi. "In Al-Shabab-controlled areas, we can't hold workshops because they already prohibited international aid organizations to operate in areas they control in south-central Somalia. For this reason, we hold the workshops in the government areas."

According to Dahabo Abdi, a local journalist, the result is precious little HIV knowledge in the city. "The people of Mogadishu do not receive enough awareness, except sometimes radio stations speak about it," she said.

"We are not like [the self-declared republic of] Somaliland, where I have seen in the media that the people are discussing HIV/AIDS in public," said Osman Libah, deputy health minister of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government.

Nevertheless, Elmi remains optimistic that the limited work going on in Mogadishu is having some impact on the attitudes of the city's residents.

"Several years ago, people never welcomed us because of the stigma they have about the disease, but nowadays it seems that things are changing."

maj/kr/mw

Farmers Complain of Herders in Afgoye Town

Afgoye — With the drought grips many regions in southern and central
Somalia, farmers in Afgoye town, about 30 kilometers southwest of the
Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday complained about herders whose
livestock apparently sent to their farms.

The farmers said that the pastoralists are cutting their crops and
plants to feed their domestic animals which are severely affected by
the drought.

A farmer in Afgoye town in Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia
told Shabelle that what the situation too worse is that the livestock
started to die of hunger.

Thus, the herders attacked their farming fields to harvested and cut
of their plants and the owners of farmers said their crops are on
their verge of decimation if this attacks continue to rage.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201104250203.html

"Worst drought in a lifetime"

NAIROBI, 20 April 2011 (IRIN) - Officials and aid workers in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region have raised the alarm over the plight of drought-stricken villagers urgently needing food and water.

"We are experiencing the worst drought we have seen in decades; since the beginning of March, we have buried 54 people who died from the effects of the drought, seven of them today [20 April]," said Ali Barow, leader of the small town of Guulane, 220km northeast of Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Barow said Guulane and the surrounding villages of Eil Barwaaqo, Hirka Dheere and Hagarey, with an estimated population of 20,000-25,000, were suffering the effects of a prolonged drought.

He said a local NGO had undertaken water trucking but it was not enough and "did not reach most of the residents. They did well but ran out of money before they could make much of a difference."

Abukar Abdulahi Tifow, the country director of the Women and Child Care Organization (WOCCA), a local NGO, who visited some of the villages, told IRIN the situation was desperate. "What we saw was depressing; some of the villagers were eating wild berries and cooking 'garaz' [a yellowish bean normally eaten by animals during drought]; that was all the food they had."

Tifow said his group trucked water for 1,420 families (about 8,520 people) in the four weeks they were there. "Unfortunately, there were many more we did not reach. We simply ran out of funds."

He said all the water points in the area had dried up. "The remaining water points are not fit for human consumption but people are desperate and will drink anything."

Tifow said almost all the deaths were water related. "Most of them died of AWD [acute watery diarrhoea] that was caused by drinking contaminated water."

Alasow Sharey Bool, 80, said both people and livestock were dying in the area. "In my 80 years, I have never experienced what I have seen now. This is the worst drought I have witnessed in my lifetime."

Bool said he had seen animals trying to eat the entrails of a dead animal: "That is how desperate the situation is."

He said in the past three years, the area had had very little or no rain. "What is making it worse is that we don't have anything to fall back on. We have not recovered from the last drought and now this one seems to be going on for ever.

"We have had problems with food shortages and water but I have never seen anything quite like this," Bool said, urging aid agencies to help.

A local journalist, who requested anonymity, said: "The entire region [Middle Shabelle] is suffering from a combination of a severe drought and incredibly high prices for the most basic necessities and needs help."

According to UN estimates, at least 2.4 million Somalis need help across the country, with another 1.4 million being displaced.

ah/js/mw[END]

Somalia drought leaves one in four children hungry - UN

Children in Somalia are suffering some of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, says the United Nations as drought continues to affect the country.

An UN official told the BBC about two and a half million people had been affected.

She said there had been complete crop failure in southern Somalia and that many had lost their livelihoods.

The country has also been ravaged by two decades of violence.

Many people are leaving rural areas to search for work in Somali towns, while others are quitting the country altogether - going to Kenya and Yemen, said Grainne Moloniy of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation.

"One in four children is malnourished - that's one of the highest rates in the world," she told the BBC's World Today programme.

The rains have either failed or been inadequate for several seasons, fields are parched, and livestock - the mainstay of the economy - are dying.

People are become more dependent on remittances from their Somali relatives abroad, Ms Moloniy said.

However, the Somali diaspora has been hit by the global economic crisis, and in the past few years has been unable to send as much money home.

UN agencies and other humanitarian groups are also short of funds - the UN has only raised a third of what it needs for food aid for Somalia, Ms Moloniy said.

With no end to the drought in sight, and insecurity continuing in many parts of Somalia, it is likely the situation will get worse before it gets better, says BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper.

The country has experienced more than 20 years of conflict, with Islamist insurgents fighting forces of the transitional government, backed by peacekeepers from the African Union.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13171252

Mahamud Abdi Omar, "I am not only surviving but thriving"

NAIROBI, 19 April 2011 (IRIN) - Mahamud Abdi Omar, 25, is a small businessman in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, which for years has been a battlefield between government troops and insurgents.

Like any other businessman in a war zone, Omar tries to make a living despite the violence. However, for hearing-impaired Omar, surviving in the war-torn city is not only tricky but dangerous.

Omar owns a small shop selling electronics, such as radios and watches, in the middle of Bakara market, the largest open-air market in the country and probably the most dangerous. Omar spoke to IRIN on 19 April about his experience:

"The shop was opened 10 years ago by my father; I started working with him when I was 15. My father passed away three years ago and I took over.

"My father knew that as a deaf person, I would have a hard time in Mogadishu but he always told me that I could do anything I wanted to. Life for someone like me is not easy in Mogadishu. It is hard for ordinary people but is doubly hard if you are physically challenged.

"I live in a city at war, so I have had to learn to read the signs when something is going to happen. It is easy when they use heavy weapons. I can feel the vibrations on the ground. My problem is when I am busy and not looking and they use small arms.

"Last week, for example, I was walking along the street when gunfire erupted and I only became aware of it when I saw a man fall in front of me bleeding; then I ran like everybody else.

"It seems we are always running from one shelter to another. Getting caught up in fighting is something every Mogadishu resident is familiar with but most are not deaf and so are immediately aware of what's going on. For me, and people like me, we have to be vigilant at all times.

"I would have liked to go to school like any other person but I could not because there were no schools for the deaf. Still, I am one of the lucky ones, thanks to my late father who instilled in me that I was as good as any other child and could do whatever I wanted.

"My wish is that younger children who are deaf or blind can get an education and lead the life of normal citizens. People are not very kind to those like me who may be different from them, but I am no longer worried about what people think.

"I know many people worried after my father passed away that I would not survive and the shop would close. But look at me now, I am not only surviving but I am thriving.

"The shop is doing well - when I can open it [constant fighting often closes the market]. Businesswise I am doing better than when my father was alive. People are used to my being deaf and I give them good service so they like me.

"I am thankful to God that I am able to take care of my mother and my two sisters."

ah/mw[END]

Shoe-shining in a war zone

MOGADISHU, 14 April 2011 (IRIN) - There are a lot of boots to shine in heavily militarized Mogadishu, and a lot of boys to shine them, despite the risks of bombs, bullets and beatings.

Two decades of civil war in Somalia's capital have left many civilians, particularly the youth, without employment or viable alternative means of earning a livelihood.

Ahmed Dini, a civil society activist involved in children's welfare, told IRIN that exact figures were not available but estimated that "roughly between 4,000 and 4,500 children live on the streets of Mogadishu". 

He said the numbers had been increasing in the past few years. "Some have lost their parents and others have been separated from families who fled the violence."

Halimo Ahmed*, an official of a women's business association in Mogadishu, told IRIN: "These children live under difficult situations while working in the streets. Sometimes, a child shining the shoes of soldier is caught up in conflict if rivals attack while the task is going on. In such situations, the children are [sometimes] killed accidentally.

"Two children were shot dead three months ago in K4 [a neighbourhood of southern Mogadishu] when the soldiers whose shoes they were shining were attacked by a militia group."

Fighting between government troops, backed by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and opposition Islamist groups, continues in Mogadishu and other parts of the country and has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Somalis.

Most of the children work as shoe-shiners in the southern part of Mogadishu, which is controlled by the Transitional Federal Government, or in the northern part controlled by opposition Islamist group, Al-Shabab.

Harassment

Due to daily conflict in the city, Ahmed said, these children are often harassed or denied payment by their customers.

"Sometimes, soldiers promise the children khat [mild stimulant widely chewed in the country] for shining their shoes then they later refuse to hand over the khat; if the children insist on being paid, they could even be shot," Ahmed said.

Both military and civilian customers sometimes abuse the shoe-shiners.

Osman Ali*, 9, has been shining shoes in Mogadishu for two years. "I was born in the north of Mogadishu and I have been working as a shoe shiner for two years now because my father is taking care of my mother, who is too ill, leaving me as the main provider for my five younger brothers.

"Sometimes TFG soldiers ask us to shine their shoes but when we ask for payment, they threaten us or even beat us."

Abdi Omar, 14, told IRIN: "I remember one Wednesday a few weeks ago when two soldiers came to me and asked me to shine their shoes. When I completed shining their shoes, they complained that I had not done the job properly. They left without paying me. In such cases, I just ask Allah to give them a hard time."

Displacement

Ali Abdi, 12, who works near Eil-gaab in the south, has not only been displaced several times, but survived a bomb attack.

"Initially, my family lived in Karan district [north]. One day, after I had left for work, war broke out in the area. When I returned home, my family had fled. I resorted to sleeping on the streets for about eight days. I later made my way to Eil-gaab where I met someone I knew. He told me my family had fled to Xamar-weyne [south Mogadishu].

"One of my worst experiences took place here in Eil-gaab. It happened early one morning after I had reported to work. Shooting started and a bomb exploded near my spot. A friend of mine, who was also shining shoes, was hit. He lost his leg and an arm; somehow, I managed to survive without an injury. I did not turn up to work for days after the incident."

Abdi said he later returned to work because he is the family's bread winner. "I earn about 40,000 shillings [US$1.50] daily and for this reason, I will not stop working despite the uncertainty involved."

High hopes

Many of the shoe-shining children expressed their desire for schooling.

"It is circumstances that have forced me to work for my family but if I can get an education I will be happy to go to school because I know that in future, education can help me," Mustaf Khadar, another shoe-shiner, said.

Several women's organizations are involved in efforts to support children who have to work to help their families.

"With the support of [international organizations] we have identified about 480 children in Galgadud and Mogadishu," an official of one, who declined to be named, told IRIN. "Some we feed while others we enrol in vocational training. However, we cannot host them in one place because we are afraid they could be bombed."

Despite the difficulties of working on Mogadishu's streets, many shoe-shiners are optimistic that the city will be peaceful some day.

"My mother tells me that fighting will end, but we are waiting to see this happening," Ismail Abdi said. "We hope that one day, we will go to school and that peace will come to Mogadishu."

*Not their real names

maj/js/am/mw[END]

Somalis drought prevention committee chief stands down

MOGADISHU (Mareeg.com13 aprill 2011) – The chairman of Somalia's
drought prevention committee on Wednesday stood down from his
portfolio.

In a press conference held today in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia,
Ibrahim Habeb Nur, said he quit his position, indicating that he made
long-term discussions and deliberations with government officials
about doing this decision.

Mr Nur, a Somali legislator, said the work of Somalia's prevention
committee was very heavy and enormous.

He said that he delivered humanitarian assistance to many needy
internally displaced people in Mogadishu during when he was the
chairman of that committee.

He said that in the past he had told to the parliament he can no
longer work in the national prevention committee.

The chairman of Somalia's drought prevention committee said Somali
prime minister had donated $ US 61,000 to help the IDPs in Mogadishu
and Somalia-Kenya border.

Vaccine fears fuel measles outbreak

NAIROBI, 7 April 2011 (IRIN) - The cause of a measles outbreak in Somalia has yet to be determined but doctors say initial suspicions point to "unfounded rumours" that the vaccine could cause HIV/AIDS in children and interfere with their reproductive abilities.

"There are false rumours creating fear among parents that the vaccination causes HIV/AIDS and can affect a child's reproductive system," said Ismail Isse Roble, head of the Bari Medical Association in Bosasso, capital of Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Roble said most of the children brought to his clinic had not been vaccinated.

"The irony is that most of the affected children are those whose parents can afford medical care," he said. "Children in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps [in Bosasso] are least affected because they took advantage of the free vaccinations provided."

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Somalia, 83 cases, including five deaths, were reported in Mogadishu in the past five weeks. Some 127 cases were reported in Puntland, WHO said.

The agency said the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO and their partners conducted outbreak response campaigns in the last week of March, vaccinating more than 75,000 children.

Although measles cannot be treated, WHO said, "it can easily be prevented by taking the measles vaccine that is provided in all MCH [mother-child health] facilities in Somalia daily for free".

Lul Mahamud Mohamed, head of the pediatric department at Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu, told IRIN she had been seeing more and more cases in the past three months.

"In February, we had 53 cases with three deaths; in March, there were 81 cases with six deaths," she said. "In the first week of April, we already had 17 cases and two deaths. The increasing numbers point to an upward trend," said Mohamed.

She said 90 percent of the patients were younger than two. Since February, 151 cases of measles have been reported in Benadir hospital alone.

"Already, there are response campaigns going on in the affected areas but they are being hampered by lack of access to certain areas," Mohamed told IRIN.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease, which mostly affects children and is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons. The virus can be transmitted in the air, in respiratory droplets or by direct contact with the nasal and throat secretions of infected persons, according to WHO.

Mohamed said overcrowding in parts of Mogadishu and in the IDP camps in the Afgoye corridor facilitated the spread of the virus.

Scotch the rumours

She said vaccines were available but parents had to be convinced to take their children to be immunized. "We need to mount an awareness campaign to fight these false rumours and lies that the vaccine will harm the child."

Mohamed appealed to parents with children aged between nine months and five years who had never received the measles vaccination to take their children to the nearest immunizing health facility.

Roble in Bosasso said religious scholars should also inform the people about the safety of the vaccines.

"They are the ones that ordinary Somalis will listen to; it is sad that in this day and age our children must die because of ignorance and lies," Roble said.

ah/mw[END]

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92408