"Urgent" access to drought communities needed

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 19 Jan 2011

NAIROBI, 19 January 2011 (IRIN) - With drought worsening across Somalia, officials in the south and central parts of the country - largely controlled by Islamist opposition groups - have appealed for access to communities that have reported deaths of people and livestock.

"This is not about politics; it is about saving lives. Those in control should not only allow access but take part in reaching those that need help," Ibrahim Habeb Nur, a member of parliament, told IRIN on 18 January.

He said the drought could get worse in the coming months, with the affected populations needing urgent help after losing their livelihoods.

"We have reports of people dying because of lack of water and food," Nur said. "Every region from Ras Kambone [in the south] to Ras Aser [in the north] is affected.

"We are looking at two to three months with no possibility of rains," Nur said. "This is as bad as I can remember. We are facing a catastrophe and all us Somalis and aid agencies should pull together to save lives before it is too late."

He said the drought had forced many families into towns and urban centres in search of help.

Collective effort

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said on 7 January that access to Somalia's most vulnerable populations remained critical and urged all parties to the country's conflict to grant access.

"The increasing threat of hunger and disease caused by the drought calls for a collective effort by all parties in Somalia to increase and facilitate access for a broader range of humanitarian actions," he said. "I call upon all those who are in a position to improve access to lend their support at this critical time."

A January monthly information bulletin, produced by Somalia's Water and Land Information Management with the Food Security Nutrition and Analysis Unit [ http://www.faoswalim.org ] and Famine and Early Warning Networks, stated that "the very poor Deyr rains in November and December [2010] have aggravated pasture conditions in all key pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of the country, with water catchments and dams dried up earlier than expected".

Abdullahi Abdirahman Ahmed, head of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency (HADMA) of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, told IRIN the drought had affected the entire region and was one of the worst in the past 10 years.

"In some villages close to the coast, livestock have started dying; the remaining livestock is too weak that the people cannot sell it or eat it."

He warned that conditions in the next four months would be dire. "We don't expect any rains before May and people are already too weak and if help does not arrive soon, people will definitely die."

Ahmed said the people in the area depended on water from barkads (water catchments) for 80 percent of their needs but they had all dried up.

Dead livestock

In the self-declared state of Galmudug, in central Somalia, the situation is equally bad. Ahmed Osman Ilmi, an elder, who visited some of the drought-affected villages, told IRIN by telephone from south Galkayo that most of the area was experiencing a severe drought.

"I have seen dead livestock, including camels," Ilmi said. "The situation is really bad."

He said the eastern parts (coastal areas) were more affected. "They did not have much rain in the last two rainy seasons."

He said the local authorities and individual Somalis had begun trucking water, "but it is not nearly enough", adding that one water tanker, with 200 drums (each 200l), costs between US$200 and $250.

"I saw no one dying from the effects of the drought but if the situation continues I have no doubt they will follow their livestock [and die]," Ilmi said. "Help is urgently needed."

An estimated two million Somalis need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. At least 1.4 million Somalis have been displaced by fighting between government forces and Islamic insurgents, who control much of south and central Somalia, including parts of Mogadishu. Another 600,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.

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Gal-Mudug state strongly denounce Humanitarian agency

By Mohamed Omar Hassan

Galkacyo: The semiautonomous state of Gal-Mudug in central Somalia has strongly criticized the humaniterain agencies which are within its territorial.

This authority has condemned the Humanitarian agencies for not helping the stern drought affected people in the region.  

The Minister for planning and international relations in Gal-Mudug state Mr. Omar Mohamoud Roble has criticized the humanitarian agencies, after touring some of the warehouses of the World Food Programme.

"After we have made toured the big warehouses of the World Food Programme we have seen that these warehouses contain surplus of food and of course there are hundreds of drought affected people who have been lately pouring in Galkacyo town after having lost their livestock, in fact these people have nothing to feed and WFP has sufficient food in its stores, so thus we are strongly denouncing for WFP having a large quantity of food in its stores while hundreds of people are starving, we are also recommending WFP with immediate effect to distribute these food" said the Minister for Planning and international relations of Gal-Mudug state Mr. Mohamoud Omar Roble.  

Mr. Roble has as well alerted all other humanitarian agencies to fulfil their duties in the region

The WFP personnel on the ground have told the Minister that the food in the warehouses are scheduled to be distributed in the coming month, and have no authority from above that they should distribute the food to the starving people.

Eventually the Minister has said that if WFP ignores the alarming situation of the starving people, the authority of Gal-Mudug state will scale down the humanitarian activities of WFP in the region.  

Source:http://www.somaliweyn.org/pages/news/Jan_11/17Jan19.html

Somali gov’t supplies aid drugs to Galmudug state

MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) – The ministry of health under the transitional federal government of Somalia on Saturday supply and presented aid drugs to Galmudug administration that runs southern part of Galk'ayo town in Mudug region in central Somalia.

Dr. Adan Hajji Ibrahim, Somalia's health minister said that this medicine aid is intended to do more in the health sector in areas Galmudug state administration.

Speaking at the occasion of giving aid drugs, Dr. Ibrahim said that Somali government received these aid medicines for some of the world nations to help patient and sick people in Somalia.

He also pointed that MCH centers in the country will receive some medicine each to cure and treat the Somali mothers and children.

For his part, Mohammed Hassan Id, the minister of health of Galmudug state have accepted the aid drugs, thanking Somalia's ministry of health for the aid.

Nearly 300 diarrhea-come-down people admitted to a hospital in Mogadisho

MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) – About 260 people including children, who have come with diarrhea, were admitted to Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu in the last 24 hours.

Some of affected people and children were brought from the regions of Benadir, lower Shabelle and middle Shabelle.

Abdi rasheed Hirsi Ali, an health official at Benadir hospital in Mogadishu, told Shabelle Media Network that the patients in the hospital are mostly kids whose ages under 5.

Mr. Ali said at least 5 children have so far died in the hospital after coming down with the disease of diarrhea.

Aid agencies serving inside Somalia said their aid services to millions of Somalis harmed by the difficulties and conflicts between Somali political factions.

Al shabaab, which controls large territories in southern and central Somalia, has banned more than 20 aid agencies from operating in southern Somalia.

Thousands of animals are dying of starvation in south and central Somalia while many people are suffering from shortages of water and food after annual rains failed.

By Abdurrahman Warsameh, Mogadishu

Elders from the region say that hundreds of thousands lack adequate food and water. "Families have been struggling. Their children and livestock are dying of starvation," says Iman Muse Mohamoud, a resident of the village Abudwaq in central Somalia. The current drought spell is the worst the local elders say they have seen in years.

Food and water prices have risen dramatically. People have to pay almost 100,000 Somali shilling (equivalent to 2 euros) for a 200-littre barrel of water – a price out of the reach of most people. Food prices in the drought-hit areas have gone up four hundrend per cent.

"Some of the families, including mine, have to go for one meal a day to survive. Most of the people here are unable to buy enough food and water for themselves. They have also lost their livestock," Maryan, a mother of seven, tells RNW.

Women, children and the elder are hard hit by the shortages in the war torn east African country. Some families from villages have begun to move to the towns.

The Somali government has announced to set up a national commission to deal with the crisis in central Somalia and parts of the south. Officials have called upon the international community for assistance and the return of aid agencies who have withdrawn from Somalia since 2007 because of general insecurity and the banning order of Islamist rebels.

The east African nation has been through almost two decades of civil conflict while chronic drought and subsequent famines coupled with widespread diseases have remained part and parcel of everyday life for the ordinary p

eople of Somalia.

Source: Radio Netherlands Worlwide- Africa desk

Aid reaches more than half a million people in Somalia

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Date: 05 Jan 2011

05-01-2011 News Release 11/02

Geneva (ICRC) – Ongoing fighting exacerbated by drought is forcing millions of Somalis to continue to depend on humanitarian assistance. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent Society have just finished providing food and urgently needed household items for over 540,000 displaced people (IDPs) and vulnerable residents in major cities and along the road heading south-west from Mogadishu to Afgoye.

"Twenty years of war have left Somalia in a dire state that is steadily getting worse," said Pascal Mauchle, the ICRC's head of delegation for Somalia. "Tens of thousands of people have fled Mogadishu over recent months. Food production has fallen, prices have skyrocketed and many people cannot afford to buy food and other essentials, even when they are available on the market. The economic situation is still deteriorating and people struggle for their daily survival, not only in conflict-affected areas but also in major cities in the northern part of the country."

Over the past few weeks, the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent have distributed two-month rations of rice, beans and oil to some 240,000 displaced people and needy residents, and blankets, kitchen sets and plastic roofing to over 300,000 people. Priority has been given to disabled people, orphans and households headed by women. The aid reached many different cities in Lower Shabelle, Gedo, Bakool and Bay in the south, in Hiraan and Mudug in the central part of the country, and in Puntland in the north.

For further information, please contact:

Yves van Loo, ICRC Somalia, tel: +254 736 084 015

Marçal Izard, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 24 58 or +41 79 217 32 24

Lifting of aid restrictions vital ahead of impending drought, UN envoy stresses

Source: United Nations News Service

Date: 05 Jan 2011

5 January 2011 – The top United Nations envoy for Somalia today urged that restrictions on aid delivery, partly owing to a rejection of Western assistance by Islamic militants, be lifted so that those who need help amid an impending drought can receive it.

The Horn of Africa nation is already facing a dire humanitarian crisis in which 3.2 million people, more than 40 per cent of the population, is in need of aid.

This situation is likely to be compounded by the impending drought, which is already having a severe impact on the lives of people and livestock, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In an update issued last week, OCHA noted that the harsh dry season continues to affect many parts of Somalia, including Somaliland and Puntland.

Augustine Mahiga, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, who just visited the capital, Mogadishu, yesterday, said the drought is just beginning but it is going to increase, and that people in some of the areas controlled by Al-Shabaab Islamic militants are demanding that international assistance be allowed to reach them.

"The only answer to hunger is to get food," he stated in an interview with UN Radio, adding that food is available but it is being denied to the population by the various restrictions.

While some of the restrictions stem from insecurity, there also seems to be an "ideological rejection" of assistance from Western countries by Al-Shabaab.

"We hope there will be a relaxation of this restriction to avert what is an impending crisis and a catastrophe of really serious proportions," said Mr. Mahiga.

Somalia – which has not had a functioning central government since 1991 – has been torn apart by decades of conflict and factional strife, more recently with Al-Shabaab.

While in Mogadishu, Mr. Mahiga met with President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as well as Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, with whom he discussed the road map prepared by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Under the Transitional Federal Charter, the interim authority's mandate is set to expire this August. Several tasks remain to be completed such as continuing initiatives on reconciliation, building civilian and security institutions and the completion of the constitution-making process.

Children die as a result of drinking contaminated water in Gedo region

Excerpted and translated from Shabelle Media Network

05 January 2011

Ceelwaaq: Towfiiq village located 85 km north to Elwaq district of Gedo region is reported to have experienced severe shortages water that caused breaking out of acute watery diarrhea.

One of inhabitants of tawfiiq village told that 2 children under age 5 passed away as a result of lack of water and break out of diarrhea  disease, adding that water source and pasture are very far from areas pastoralists are living in now.

It's envisaged that died children had drunk dirty and contaminated water as they could not negotiate with the extreme dehydration which lead death of the two children.

For the last weeks increasingly appeals have been coming from the elders and normal pastoral and agro pastoral communities whom severely affected by the current droughts which disrupted their livelihoods.

ELias Mohamed

Clan related confrontation kills 4 in South Mudug of SCZ

Source: Shabelle Media Network
05 January 2011

Galka'yo(Sh. M. Network) – Local clan militiamen on Wednesday clashed in a village in central Somalia.

Witnesses told Shablle that the clash erupted in Ji'dhere village about 25 KM north of Galka'yo town in Mudug region, killing four and wounding more than 2 others.

The confrontation is said to be very heavy as crackling of machine gun fire and shoulder launched missiles could be heard in the countryside closed to Ji'dhere village.

The root cause is said that each tribe wants to reside where grass and water could be found as severe droughts had struck in many region in south-central Somalia.

Local residents expressed a deep concern about the repeated fraternal clans' combats in the central Somalia. No one has stood to mediate between warring tribal militias so far.

Reports emanating from the village suggest shaky calm returned to the area as the two parts are preparing for another clash.

Perilous journey to "land of milk and honey" ends in deportations

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 05 Jan 2011

NAIROBI, 5 January 2011 (IRIN) - Hawa Aden left Bosasso, a Somali port city in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, in 2009 on a dangerous boat journey across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, and then trekked 20 days to reach Saudi Arabia.

"I was exhausted and terrified when we got there [Yemen] but I was happy at the same time," Aden told IRIN. "I thought I had arrived in the land of milk and honey [Saudi Arabia]."

Hundreds of Somalis undertake the perilous journey to Saudi Arabia via Yemen. However, many end up being deported.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, of the 78,487 Ethiopians and Somalis who crossed into Yemen from Somalia and Djibouti in 2009, 685 died at sea.

Accompanying Aden on her journey were eight Somali women and seven men. They all made it to Saudi Arabia where Aden found employment as a domestic worker in a small town.

"I worked there for one-and-a-half years; it was not perfect but at least I could send money to my family back home, who were all in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps," she said.

One day, she decided to make a trip to Jeddah and was promptly arrested by Saudi police.

"I was taken to jail with many other Somalis and later deported to Mogadishu," Aden said. "I left with the clothes on my back. They would not even allow me to get my last month's salary."

Aden was lucky she at least had worked for more than a year, unlike Ayan Abukar, 18, who went to Saudi Arabia via Bosasso, the Red Sea and Yemen, and was arrested three months after her arrival.

"I was on my way to work when they arrested me," Abukar said. "I worked for only three months and managed to send money for only one month to my family."

She said it broke her parents' hearts when she arrived unannounced in Mogadishu. "They were thinking I was in Saudi, working - only for me to show up on their doorstep. My family is very poor. I was their only source of income."

Abukar is determined to try again. "I know the journey is dangerous and I risk being deported again but I have no other option. There is only death here."

Mohamed Abdirahman Ilmi, 19, has a similar story. He left Bosasso in January 2009. "It took us only 12 days to reach Saudi Arabia; we travelled at night and crossed into Saudi when the guards were asleep," he said.

Ilmi said he worked for almost two years and sent money to his family in Mogadishu. "I wanted to save enough to go to a place where I could go to university."

Ilmi said he left Somalia because Mogadishu was too dangerous, "especially if you are a young man. Everyone wants to recruit you into an army [militia]."

He said he was arrested in Saudi Arabia with other young Somalis as they tried to buy food. "In jail, the guards were incredibly cruel; if you asked or questioned anything they would deny you food and water," he said.

He said there were beatings and other abuses. "Pray you never end up in a Saudi jail," he said.

Ilmi said he would not attempt the journey from Bosasso again. "We barely survived the last trip; I will take my chances here and enrol in one of the universities here. Maybe there is a reason God sent me back here."

Deportations criticized

UNHCR said roughly 10,000 Somalis had been deported from Saudi Arabia in 2010.

Roberta Russo, UNHCR spokeswoman, told IRIN: "The large majority of the deportees are not known to UNHCR, as they did not register with our office in [Saudi Arabia]. We have very little information about them in [Saudi] and also once they are deported back to Mogadishu."

Russo said UNHCR "strongly condemns deportations to Mogadishu, which in this moment is a death sentence. We appeal to all governments not to return Somalis to Mogadishu, where everyday human rights are violated, and civilians are injured and killed by the fighting."

Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued on 22 December 2010, called on the Saudi government to stop deporting Somalis to Mogadishu.

"Deporting anyone to a war zone like Mogadishu is inhumane, but returning children is beyond comprehension," Rona Peligal, Africa director at HRW, is quoted as saying.

When contacted by IRIN, Saudi officials declined to comment on the issue.

Sheikh Ali Raage, a Muslim scholar, told IRIN the deportations were not compatible with Islam. "Islam calls for the protection of those fleeing conflict, hunger and any other troubles, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims."

He said they [refugees] should be provided with basic needs, such as food shelter and safety and security.

The deportations come as fighting escalates between government forces, backed by African Union peacekeepers, and Islamic Al-Shabab insurgents who control much of southern and central Somalia, including most of Mogadishu.

Since 1990, more than 1.4 million Somalis have been displaced internally, and at least 600,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.

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UNICEF-supported programme treats malnutrition before it becomes life-threatening

Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Date: 30 Dec 2010

By Mike Pflanz

HARGEISA, Somalia, 30 December 2010 – Salman Haji, 4, stands in the corner of a tin-walled hut, solemnly staring at the man in the white coat as he searches through an impressive amount of official looking paper spread across a large table in a seemingly random fashion. Eventually, a yellow medical card is found recording the details of Salman's last visit to this mobile clinic, located on the outskirts of Hargeisa.

"He was improving, but now there are signs again of malnutrition, and of an underlying chronic respiratory illness," Ali Mayag Muse explains to Salman's mother, Hodan Mohamed, as her son struggles to contain a sudden coughing fit.

UNICEF provides support

Mr. Muse is a supervisor at an innovative Outpatient Therapeutic Programme which aims to treat children before malnutrition becomes so severe that other deadly illnesses - tuberculosis, diarrhoea and pneumonia chief among them - can take hold. The project is supported by UNICEF, and is funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), UK Department for International Development (DfID), Governments of Italy, Spain, and Denmark, as well as the Italian and French National Committees for UNICEF.

The weight and height of the children are measured, as is the circumference of their upper arms, to create a weekly snapshot of each child's nutrition status, which is then checked against records from previous visits. In addition, Plumpy'nut - a pre-packaged high-nutritional quality peanut paste specially formulated to treat severe acute malnutrition - is handed out, as are Vitamin A supplements and zinc tablets to treat diarrhoea. Children with underlying complaints, like Salman, may be started on a course of antibiotics.

In the first ten months of 2010, 90 per cent of the more than 6,000 children treated in Somaliland for severe acute malnutrition recovered. Unfortunately, UNICEF estimates only half of those in need can be reached.

Measured interventions

Asha Mohamed's nine-month-old daughter, Ayan, was one of those still beyond the reach of the programme, in their remote village a 24-hour journey to the south of Hargeisa.

"She was sick for a month, and getting worse and worse," Ms. Mohamed says. "Finally, I made the decision on my own to get a truck to come to Hargeisa. It was a day and a night on the road, and Ayan was so sick and exhausted. We were told to come here, and now she is recovering so fast."

Little Ayan received her treatment at a special ward supported by UNICEF in the Hargeisa Group Hospital. It is one of Somaliland's three 'stabilisation centres' for inpatient treatment, the step above the outpatient programme for the most serious cases. The infants must be slowly brought back to strength with measured interventions.

"It can kill a malnourished child to rush in to treat the malnutrition, first we need to treat the complications," said supervisor Hawale Abdullahi.

Hope for expansion

Approximately forty cases are admitted to the centre each month, but Mr. Abdullahi has hope that those numbers will drop if the outpatient programme can be expanded.

Zivai Murira, UNICEF's Nutrition Specialist based in Hargeisa, agrees.

"Children can deteriorate so quickly to the point where their severe malnutrition is difficult to manage," he explains. "That's why the stabilisation centres are there, but it's also why we are trying to widen the reach of the outpatient programme, to catch children before complications set in."