25 Percent Of The Somali Population Are Facing Starvation

[Somalian_Boqor]

laa ilaaha illa allah. 2 million Somalis - More Than 25 Percent Of the Somali Population Are Facing Starvation.

UN Urges International Action as Somali Drought Deepens

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Capping a three-day tour of refugee camps in drought-stricken parts of Somalia, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told reporters that serious international focus is needed to head off increasingly severe shortages of food and water.

“Somalia, as you know, hosts one of the largest populations of displaced people in the world and is again teetering on the brink of a much larger-scale disaster due to the threat of a country-wide drought," said Amos. "Malnutrition rates have increased in the last six months in Somalia.”

British-based aid group Oxfam International has warned that many areas in southern and central Somalia have received as little as 15 percent of their typical rainfall, with some areas receiving no rain at all. Amos added to Oxfam’s findings Thursday, telling reporters in Nairobi that as many as 2 million Somalis - more than 25 percent of the population - are facing starvation.

According to the United Nations, one in four children in Somalia are already acutely malnourished. The failure of the country’s short rains period - from October through December - has put even further strain on pastoralist communities. The widespread deaths of livestock, such as camels, have deprived many rural Somalis of access to such basic staples as milk. It is estimated that as many as 20,000 have been forced to leave their homes in search of pastures, food and water.

Compounding the problem is the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab. The al-Qaida-linked group controls much of central and southern Somalia, including parts of Mogadishu, and has restricted access for humanitarian groups, including the United Nations. U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Bowden said the group would need to soften its stance to prevent famine from occurring.

“I know that there is continuing discussion within the Shabab," said Bowden. "I very much hope that as the situation deteriorates there will be an easing up of the position to recognize that a larger amount of assistance will be needed and they have a responsibility to protect their population from the drought.”

Amos also visited parts of northeastern Kenya, which is facing similar shortages. Amos told reporters that support was needed in both countries to address immediate concerns, but also to build long-term resilience and emergency preparedness programs for environmental challenges.

Source: VOA

[Somalian_Boqor]

May Allah help our people and get them out of this long standing misery. Amiin

[greenday]

This is really bad, my awoowe was like he has to buy food to feed his xoolo. I feel sorry for those who no one to help with money. Ilaheey ha u gar garo.

[Somalian_Boqor]

This is really bad, my awoowe was like he has to buy food to feed his xoolo. I feel sorry for those who no one to help with money. Ilaheey ha u gar garo.

The Somali diaspora are asleep, while many of our people are facing starvation. We will have to answer to Allah one day about this. We have lost our dignity.

[Somalian_Boqor]

A Looming Catastrophe


GAROWE, Somalia (AP) — A severe drought has plunged millions of Somalis into crisis after rains failed for several consecutive seasons in this Horn of Africa nation, and the U.N. and aid groups are warning of the possibility of a looming catastrophe.

The drought has increased the number of malnourished children in some regions, displaced thousands of people and killed thousands of animals. Officials in a central Somali region said 18 people died of drought-related effects.

"The situation is dire. It is an added vulnerability to an already extremely vulnerable people," the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, told The Associated Press after touring camps for displaced people in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland on Wednesday.

Amos's one-day trip was intended, she said, "to remind the people that there is still a long, ongoing problem in Somalia. I don't want the people to forget Somalia. When you have an ongoing problem anywhere in the world, it is easy to slip it from the agenda."

The drought is the latest in a long line of problems for Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since 1991, when warlords toppled the country's last central government and then turned on each other.

According to the U.N., the malnutrition rate among children has jumped to 30 percent in Somalia's southern Juba region, a figure that is double the emergency threshold. Food prices have soared up to 80 percent in some regions.

The price increase in the south is attributable in part to traders who are hoarding the food to profit off the drought, said Grainne Moloney, the head of the U.N.'s food security and nutrition analysis unit in Nairobi, Kenya.

Many drought-affected families are fleeing their homes in search of food. In the Galmudug region of central Somalia, officials said they haven't seen such drought conditions since 1974.

Citing a recent survey conducted by his administration, Omar Mohamoud, a local government official, said the drought has killed 18 people and displaced thousands.

Mohamoud said his community has seen about 70 percent of its sheep and goats, 50 percent of its cattle and 30 percent of its camels die in the last three years.

"We are appealing to the international community to respond to the crisis and provide the people with water, food, medicine and shelter," said Mohamoud. "If the international community does not respond to the crisis urgently, a catastrophe of huge proportions is staring us right in the eyes."

The British aid group Oxfam says Somalia's current drought could be as serious as one in early 1990, when thousands of people died.

"The situation is bad now, but with more months of no rainfall it could become an absolute catastrophe," said Alun McDonald, the group's spokesman in Nairobi. He noted that weather predictions suggest that the next rains "will also be poor or even fail."

The poor rains are even affecting marriages. In a makeshift camp in Garowe town, Nura Farah, a mother of seven children, told AP that the lack of rains led to a divorce from her husband.

"When the drought hit us we quarreled," Farah said. "I told my husband, 'Look, you are a man. So go to town and look for ways to support your family.' But he rejected my request and divorced me and left."

Farah said she quit the nomadic life after her family's one male camel and 200 sheep and goats died in a month. Poverty has forced her and her children to seek shelter in relatives' homes in Garowe, the capital city of Puntland. Her 15-year-old son contracted tuberculosis because of a lack of food, she said.

The U.N. has released $4.5 million from its emergency fund to respond to the drought and is likely to release more in coming weeks, said Mark Bowden, U.N.'s Somalia humanitarian coordinator. This figure is separate from the $530 million the U.N. appealed for this year to finance its aid projects in Somalia.

The drought's effects are worsened by the fact aid agencies' work is restricted in many regions where Islamist insurgents are in control.

Peter Smerdon, the spokesman for the World Food Program, called on all parties to the Somali conflict to allow his agency free access to help the needy population. He said WFP has had to feed more than 130,000 additional people in Somalia because of the drought. Of Somalia's estimated population of around 8 million people, about 2.4 million need food aid and about 1.5 million are internally displaced.

Amos urged Somali politicians to inject "a sense of urgency to their discussions" to end decades of warfare.

Kiki Gbeho, the head of the U.N.'s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Somalia, warned that if spring rains expected in April fail, the country "is in a huge problem."

Source: AP

[Somalian_Boqor]

Aid agencies struggle to access communities as drought looms



Thursday, February 03, 2011

GAROWE/GALKAYO/NAIROBI, 3 February 2011 (IRIN) - As drought threatens Somalia once more, humanitarians are becoming increasingly concerned about how they will reach food insecure communities living in areas controlled by armed groups.

An estimated 2.4 million Somalis require emergency humanitarian assistance as a result of civil unrest and food insecurity, according to the UN Food Security and Analysis Unit-Somalia. The failure of the short rains (October-December 2010) means over the coming months that that number could increase.

"Somalia is teetering on the brink of a much larger crisis if the next rains, due in April, fail," Baroness Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said at a press conference in Nairobi following a visit to Somalia. "There is a significant drought-affected population who are difficult to access because they live in areas controlled by armed groups."

Somalia has now been without a functional government for 20 years; several parts of the south are controlled by armed groups such as Al-Shabaab; piracy and inter-clan violence have also hampered the delivery of aid.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the fluid nature of Somalia's conflict makes delivery of humanitarian assistance even more difficult.

"Conflict tends to flare up in different places at different times, causing displacement and forcing us to pull out from time to time; it's important to be alert and ensure that we continue to get food to those who need it," Peter Smerdon, senior public affairs spokesman for WFP, told IRIN.

In 2005 and 2007, ships carrying WFP food aid were hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast, forcing the organization to use costly naval escorts for its food shipments.

Amos said officials in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in the northeast had expressed concern that their borders were increasingly coming under attack from armed groups, further threatening access to ordinarily stable parts of the country.

Working smarter

Another drought is also likely to increase the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), something aid agencies are keen to avoid; Somalia already has an estimated 1.4 million IDPs, according to the UN.

"We have noticed that people from the rural areas are trickling into the IDP camps in town now - their animals have died and they need food and water," said Sheikh Noor, an elder at an IDP camp in Garowe, Puntland.

According to Mohamed Ahmed Aalin, president of the self-declared autonomous state of Galmudug in central Somalia, pastoralists in his state have already lost 75 percent of their sheep, 50 percent of their cattle and 30 percent of their camels.

Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told IRIN it would be important for humanitarian organizations to work smarter in the field in order to provide for those most in need.

"For example, we are doing much more livelihood support - such as maintaining boreholes and cattle vaccination - so that pastoralists do not lose their livelihoods and do not therefore have to leave their communities, which is when we see the large crises happening," he said. "We are also revving up our partnerships with local NGOs who are able to access communities in conflict-affected areas."

He noted that while it was important to engage the various political groups that controlled different parts of Somalia in order to access populations under their control, humanitarians needed to remain impartial and dedicated to providing assistance to those most in need.

"Humanitarians must not become part of the political football, with different groups demanding what they perceive as `their fair share'; instead we must provide assistance according to need," he said.

Source: IRIN

[Somalian_Boqor]

.........

[Somalian_Boqor]

Alshabab are boycoting the food deliveries to drought effected areas of the South. People and livestock are dying with thurst and without anything to eat even in the Jubba's and Shabeele's which were the most fertile area in Somalia, people are cought in rock and hard place either under alshabab and the so called Government run areas. A limited food and water(dhaamis) deliveries are happening in Puntland, Galmudug iyo Somaliland.

[Somaliweyn]

What a bunch of lies! The UN and other agencies are saying this for 20 years, and all the money they raise than dissapears in private pockets while the agricultural system of Somalia is destroyed by cheap food staples.

They are now using Al Shabab as an excuse...why dont they deliver the food to the tfg, galgaduud, mudug, pl etc etc.

They write these kinds of articles to raise funds for their own pockets.

[DisplacedDiraac]

Making dua for them is great... But we also need to dig into our pockets and donate.
I think Somali Channel/Universal TV is going to do a live fundraising soon *not organised by them* by they are helping with it. I advice you all to donate Inshaa Allah..

[Somalian_Boqor]

What a bunch of lies! The UN and other agencies are saying this for 20 years, and all the money they raise than dissapears in private pockets while the agricultural system of Somalia is destroyed by cheap food staples.

They are now using Al Shabab as an excuse...why dont they deliver the food to the tfg, galgaduud, mudug, pl etc etc.

They write these kinds of articles to raise funds for their own pockets.

This drought is real and no joke. It is effecting the entire country. Al Shabaab is busy fighting for power, while it's citizens under their control are facing Starvation. They are not using Al Shabaab as an excuse Aid is already being delivered to Somaliland, Puntland iyo Galmudug and many part of Central Somalia and 4km of Mogadishu.

AL Shabaab controls 1/3 of Somalia, and the humanitarian aid is for all of Somalia. If Al Shabaab can't feed the people they should let the UN feed them.

[Monsieur]

Lets hope all the dark skinned ones and the mooryans and badows die. The Somalis will be easier to control.

[Basra-]

Allaaah provides for them. If it is their day, they will die with starvation. Allaah's will. Allaaahu akbaar.

[The_Patriot]

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