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Somali herders hard hit as drought strikes

Friday January 20 2017
drought

A mother and son at the Kobe refugee camp near the Ethiopia-Somalia border. Failure of rains over the past two years has caused a severe drought, affecting thousands in Somalia. PHOTO | FILE

Until he breathed his last, Mr Omar Hassan led a decent life as pastoralist in central Somalia's Galgadud region.

He was comfortable, earning and eating his daily bread.

But with diminishing water and pasture in the Horn of Africa country, Mr Hassan's fortunes started dwindling. His livestock couldn't take the heat and died one by one leaving him a pauper.

In November last year, Mr Hassan was left with an empty kraal after his livestock died. He committed suicide.

“Omar Hassan first suffered some kind of depression,” a relative told reporters mid-November last year. “Unfortunately, he could not regain full composure as his animals died one-by-one,” he added.

Some say that at least two more people are known to have committed suicide after witnessing the deaths of their animals due to lack of pasture and water.

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Severe drought

Although the drought affects all kinds of communities, the pastoralists, who chiefly depend on rain water are most affected.

In March last year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) declared that severe drought exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon had hit parts of Puntland and Somaliland, two northern regions of Somalia.

Failure of rains over the past two years has caused a severe drought, affecting thousands in the Horn of Africa country.

“Worsening drought conditions across the country have left hundreds of thousands of Somalis facing severe food and water shortages,” UN-OCHA affirmed.

According to the UN, some five million people (40 per cent of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance while more than 1.1 million of these in “crisis” and “emergency”.

READ: Five million Somalis go hungry as bad weather bites

Search for pastures

Since last year, things have worsened, especially after the failure of the last dayr (short rains) with clouds disappearing towards the end of the year.

As a result, most Somali regions from Sanaag in the northwest to Gedo in the south, millions of people and their livestock have been on a desperate move in search of pasture and water.

A legislator from Jubaland Administration, Mohamed Da’uud who visited Gedo region in November 2016 expressed shock. “Anyone with resources must help,” said Mr Da’uud.

“People in Bardere district are harshly affected by the serious shortage of food, water and medication,” he added, calling on the federal government, the local Interim Jubaland Authority and the international community to help. Bardere is about 341 km south of the capital Mogadishu.

Drought committee

The Puntland Authority, in northeastern Somalia has set up a team to tackle the drought in its five regions.

The committee chairman, Abdullahi Hashi alias Qoob-deero, the authority’s deputy minister of internal affairs, described the situation in Bari, Mudug, Nugal and parts of Sool and Sanaag as dire.

Late last December, Mr Hashi revealed that herders were losing a large number of their livestock, including cattle, goats and camels.

In a bid to save lives, the Puntland drought committee has initiated a water distribution operation. Mr Hashi recently told the press that he has been getting horrifying stories from the rural areas.

“Committee members who visited the drought-hit areas have seen enormous suffering including that of a two-year-old girl who had no water to drink for over 24 hours,” said Mr Hashi. “They had also met a lactating mother, who had gone without food or drink for 36 hours."

In Somaliland, the drought has been equally devastating, particularly in the eastern regions.

“The drought is fast spreading,” said Osman Dhere, an elder who has since moved his family from Sanaag in the east to Wajaale, a border district between Somaliland and Ethiopia.

Fundraising campaign

Across the Somali regions, water sources are far in between. Sometimes, pastoralists have to walk for over 100 kilometres to get water.

“We have lost most of our animals. The remaining need feed and water as the land can no longer provide pasture,” Mr Dhere added.

Traditional elders in Somaliland and Puntland have launched a fundraising campaign to support to nomads who have lost their livestock. “One (US) dollar may save a life,” declared a member of drought committee in Somaliland.

READ: Drought-hit Somalia appeals for help

The federal government of Somalia too recently named a drought committee lead by Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte. Committee members have been mobilising resources.

Humanitarian response

The deputy premier Mr Arte addressed his appeal for the drought victims to fellow Somalis, especially the business community and Somalia’s international partners.

Already, help seems forthcoming. The United Nations has a humanitarian response plan for Somalia.

“The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan outlines the humanitarian situation and priorities for response throughout the country,” announced privately-owned Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu last week.

Developed within the framework of the three-year humanitarian strategy for Somalia for 2016-2018, the response plan covering 12 months aims to save lives, ensure the protection of the most vulnerable, strengthen resilience, support the provision of basic services and enable durable solutions through a coordinated, comprehensive approach.

“Throughout the implementation of this plan, the humanitarian community will embed the principle of the centrality of protection by means of a humanitarian response to protect the most vulnerable groups,” OCHA reiterated.

Regional crisis

Other reports indicate that the drought equally affects arid and semiarid zones in Kenya and Ethiopia, both countries neighbouring Somalia to the South and West respectively.

The UN however reckons that things could turn worse as the country heads towards the jilaal (dry) season, January-April.

“The levels of human suffering in Somalia, triggered by protracted conflict, seasonal shocks and disease outbreaks are typically hard to bear, but the impact of this drought represents a threat of a different scale and magnitude,” said Peter de Clercq, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia

He further pointed out that five million of the 12.3 million people were in need of assistance.

“Many of the indicators that preceded a 2011 famine, in which 260,000 people died, had reappeared and were deteriorating faster than previously expected,” asserted the UN official who said his organisation needs $864 million to deal with the crisis.

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