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Following is a drought response update by the OCHA.

The UN Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Mr. Kjell Bondevik, made a first visit to Nairobi from 22-23 February to look into the impact of the drought in the region and its underlying causes. In addition to a meeting with the Resident- and Humanitarian Coordinators of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia and the Regional Directors of several UN agencies, Mr. Bondevik met with the IASC Somalia. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government and Chairman of the Drought Disaster Committee took part in the latter meeting. Discussions on Somalia focused on humanitarian needs and operational challenges, as well as advocacy requirements.  In the margin of the above meetings, Resident- and Humanitarian Coordinators of the five affected countries and UN Regional Directors endorsed the proposal to launch a Regional Consolidated Appeal for the Drought in the Horn of Africa covering the period 1 March - 31 December 2006.

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In an opinion article on the Nation newspaper today, Bo Goransson, the Swedish Ambassador to Kenya writes:   

East Africa and the Horn of Africa are facing one of their worst crises in decades. Food production has fallen drastically. Energy bills are soaring as oil is imported to compensate for the lack of rainwater for hydropower. Governments’ resources are depleted as public funds are diverted to short-term emergency efforts. Power is rationed and industrial production is set to drop, escalating under- and unemployment. The human capacity - the ability of the people to cope, to work and to grow - is reduced when they are out of jobs, malnourished, marginalized and pushed into dependency on relief food and water rations.   

It seems to me that Western Embassies are running Africa these days! Is this a new Neocolonialism from the back door? I wonder! Seriously, I think Mr. Goransson’s “analysis” is too over simplistic and are based on pure stereotypes rather than objective observations of the facts on the ground! Needless to say, the ambassador’s prescriptions to Africa’s economic and social ills are too superficial for anyone to take them seriously! As the saying goes, “habar fadhida lagdini wax uga fudud”. Perhaps, the Ambassador wrongly believes that everyone in Africa lives the way he does in Nairobi! 

The Nations requires registration for access. However, the article is being republished on the AllAfrica.com. 

The International committee of the Red Cross is releasing a short movie about the victims of the drought in Somalia. Following is information about the film:

Title: Somalia: Emergency relief for victims of the drought

Date & location: Bakool region, Somalia, Nairobi, 16-20 February 2006.

Natural with Somali speech and local dialect

Duration: 9′35”

Produced and realized by Pedram Yazdi, Nicole Engelbrecht, Virginie Miranda.

Source: ICRC – Access all.

Click here to learn more about this film. 

Mr.Francois Lonseny Fall, United Nations envoy to Somalia was qouted as saying:   

It hardly needs repeating here today, but the future of your country is in your hands. (…) You have arrived at a crossroad and you have a choice that should be easy to make. It should be the easiest choice that you will ever have to make. It is a choice — either to allow anarchy and chaos to prevail in your country — or to lead the Somali people towards reconciliation and reconstruction, peace and prosperity. The Somali people and the international community expect you to make the right choice.   

Mr. Fall continued by saying: 

I can assure you that the United Nations and the international community will be with you each step of the way, supporting you and encouraging you. But you must lead the way.   

I agree with Mr. Fall, the overriding political priority for the Somali federal MPs must be how to stop the lawlessness in the country and bring about security. Anything else must take the back seat for the time being. 

Click here to view the full dispatch on UN Newswire. 

I think we should ask the Somali people to forgive us for lost time.

Cali Maxamed Geedi

Prime Minister

Somali Transitional Federal Government 

The BBC News Reports:   

Somalia’s parliament has met inside the country for the first time since it was formed in Kenya more than a year ago. The meeting was held in a food warehouse in the central town of Baidoa, far from the dangers of the capital Mogadishu. It is the latest attempt to restore authority in the country after 15 years of factional fighting. Some 205 of the 275 MPs were present at the meeting. Powerful Mogadishu warlords did not attend. Politicians are split over whether the Mogadishu is safe enough to host the interim government, and whether to keep foreign peacekeepers. Sitting the first meeting in Baidoa was seen as a compromise between the two factions.   

Click here for the full dispatch on the BBC News website. 

This is a historical opportunity for the Somalia parliament, government and the people. (…) Let us choose between serving our people or being put on the bad list of history as people who promoted confrontation among Somalis and lacked the skills to administer a modern Somalia.

Cabdullaahi Yuusuf Axmed

President

Somali Transitional Federal Government

Following is a Media Release by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs; Rt. Hon. Mr. Alexander Downer 

The Australian Government, through its international aid agency, AusAID, will provide $5 million for urgent humanitarian aid to Kenya and Somalia, where 4.5 million people are facing starvation. Around 12 million people are in dire need of assistance in the broader East and Horn of Africa region as a result of drought. This new Australian aid will provide emergency food and water supplies to those most in need. Kenya has declared a national disaster, with that government describing the current drought as more severe than those of 1984, 1999 and 2000. UN reports identify Kenya as the country hardest hit by famine in sub-Saharan Africa, where 2.5 million people urgently require food aid. Somalia’s extreme poverty and dependence on subsistence farming, combined with the effect of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the hijacking of two food aid shipments in 2005, have been exacerbated by drought, causing widespread hunger.

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Following is a Media Release by the Canadian Government: 

The Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will provide an additional CAD $500,000 in response to current food shortages in Somalia in support of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) efforts to reduce severe hunger and malnutrition. Somalia is currently suffering the effects of the failed Gu and Deyr rains resulting in poor harvests and famine, both of which are exacerbated by recurrent conflict and insecurity. Close to three million people in Somalia are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

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François Lonsény Fall; Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy to Somalia was quoted as saying:   

I am deeply troubled by reports of recent fighting in Mogadishu and the news that civilians, including children, are among those who have been killed and wounded. (…) I am also alarmed by reports that hundreds of families have been forced from their homes by the indiscriminate exchange of fire from heavy weaponry. It is totally unacceptable that the lives, homes and security of Somali civilians should be the theatre for such violence. (…) I appeal to those in charge of these forces in Mogadishu to resolve their grievances peacefully. 

I share Mr. Fall’s serious concerns regarding the deteriorating security situation in Somalia, and Mogadishu in particular. However, I do believe that the UN should acknowledge the fact that it is increasingly becoming part of the problem in Somalia and not the solution! The UN’s policy towards Somalia is without a doubt full of contradictions based on poorly thought and badly researched situational analysis on the ground in Somalia. The UN certainly lacks people with an expert knowledge on Somalia, its people and its culture; someone who could put the current Somali problems into its proper economic and political context. 

For instance, on one hand the UN is complaining about the security problems in the country (and rightly so) and the lack of access to the victims of drought, on the other hand the UN is refusing bizarrely the deployment of keeping security forces into the country! You can’t have your cake and eat it. Can you?  The UN is failing the Somali people and it should do better!

Click here for the full article on the UN Newswire. 

The Reuters’ AlertNet reports: 

Preparations for the first meeting of the Somali transitional federal parliament inside the war-torn country are on schedule and members have started arriving for the session, one of the organisers said. The 26 February meeting is due to take place in Baidoa town, 240 km southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. “The plan to hold the session in Baidoa is on track. As of this moment everything, including the conference hall and accommodations, is in place,” Isak Mohamed Nur, who is also the local MP, said. All militias have been moved out of the town and encamped in former military barracks, he added. “We have 400 specially selected men who will provide the security,” Nur told IRIN on Thursday. The members of the interim parliament (MPs) have been arriving in Baidao over the past two weeks. Some 42 Mogadishu-based MPs arrived on Wednesday. 

Click here for the full dispatch on the AlertNet. 

John Donnelly of the Boston Globe Writes: 

Hassan Isak Nour’s grandfather settled this village in southwest Somalia with the optimism of a pioneer. He plowed large fields, planted sorghum, and dug a 200-foot-wide bowl-shaped hole to capture rainwater. For 57 years, it held water, and the village prospered and grew. But late last year, the water catchment dried up. For the people of Goobato, 200 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, that meant disaster. The next morning, the village’s 400 women began what has become their daily trek to survive. They leave at 2 a.m. to walk 10 miles to the nearest water source, and return home seven hours later, each carrying five gallons of water. Throughout vast sections of the Horn of Africa, specialists say, a searing drought already is the worst in a decade. Oxfam, the aid agency, says the drought is the worst in 40 years in some areas. In Goobato, no one remembers a drought this severe. Already, in recent days and weeks, dozens of children and thousands of animals have died in Goobato and the surrounding area from diseases linked to severe dehydration and malnutrition, UN officials and villagers said last week.

Click here to view the full dispatch on the Boston Globe. 

  

Copy Right: John Donnelly of The Boston Globe 

Mark Simmonds; MP for Boston and Skegness asked the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the security situation in Somalia.  The response from the British Government was given by the Rt. Hon Ian Pearson, MP. The Rt. Hon Ian Pearson said: 

Somalia has had no effective Government since 1991. We are supporting the establishment of Transitional Federal Institutions to restore peace and security, but in the interim most of Somalia continues to be controlled by armed clans and factions which frequently resort to violence. We therefore advise against all travel to Somalia because of the terrorist threat, the dangerous level of criminal activity and internal insecurity. Westerners and those working for western organisations have been targeted in recent shootings. 

The Rt. Hon Mark Simmonds also asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the activities of (a) al-Qaeda and (b) Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia. 

The Rt. Hon Ian Pearson replied by saying: 

The absence of effective Government in Somalia creates a vacuum in which terrorists, such as, al-Qaeda, operate, threatening the region and the wider international community. Islamic fundamentalists are seeking to create an Islamic State in Somalia. We have been closely engaged in the Somali national reconciliation conference and the subsequent political process. We continue to work closely with the UN and other members of the international community to achieve a comprehensive and lasting settlement and a return to good governance in Somalia, through the establishment of Transitional Federal Institutions and a return to democracy. 

Source: The British Government 

The Reuters’ AlertNet reports: 

Muslim Aid has come to the assistance of those suffering by providing £74,485 worth of humanitarian relief. Muslim Aid has offices in Somalia, which are already active in the distribution of rice, flour, sugar, oil, tea, beans, biscuits, water, shelter, and drugs to 7,500 people in southern Somalia. Many of the people affected have abandoned their homes in search of food and water, and Muslim Aid will set up temporary shelters to provide accommodation to the homeless families. Muslim Aid has allocated £37,500 towards emergency relief in Somalia. The UK-based charity will be working with UN agencies such as the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation to bring this relief to those suffering from the drought. 

Click here to view the full dispatch on the AlertNet. You may also click here to view the Muslim Aid website. 

The Vatican Online news carrier; Zenit writes:   

About 8 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti are facing “a terrible famine,” warns Caritas Internationalis. The Vatican-based Catholic confederation said that it urgently needs about $45,000 to bring food aid to the people of Djibouti.
The country, like its larger neighbors in the Horn of Africa region, is falling victim to famine after years of drought. Several consecutive seasons of failed rains and crops have left 150,000 people in need of food aid in Djibouti, explained Caritas. ”Even if some rain were to fall in the coming months, it would not be enough to avoid the impending humanitarian crisis,” the confederation said. The lack of rain has hit the pastoral herders particularly hard, since they depend on watering holes and prairie grasses to keep their livestock healthy. Caritas Djibouti plans to bring food aid to some 200 families in the interior of the country, using the network the Catholic Church has established through its missions in All-Sabieh, Obock and Tadjoura. Over a month ago, the Vatican newspaper sounded an alarm over famine in the Horn of Africa. L’Osservatore Romano described the international reaction to the famine as “largely insufficient.” 

I agree with the Vatican’s assessment regarding the draught responses by the international community. Indeed, this is consistent with what we have been saying for months now. Having said that, I think, the Vatican was too diplomatic by saying food crisis responses was “largely insufficient”. Personally, I would go as far as saying that it is appalling! Indeed, it feels that Somalia and its people are left for the animals to feed! Shame on you!

Click here to view the full dispatch on Zenit. Those of you can read the Italian language can click here to view Vatican’s Somali archives.

According to the ReliefWeb: 

WFP is distributing 700 MT of rice in Bay and Bakool to about 20,000 beneficiaries, mainly malnourished children, in selective feeding programmes. An extra 5,000 MT of sorghum are currently en route to Somalia for distribution to the drought-affected population in Middle Juba, Lower Juba, Bay, Bakool and Gedo regions. The distributions will be organised at 66 distribution points and will assist about 300,000 beneficiaries. World Vision International, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and the Somali NGO AFREC will assist in the distribution, while some will be organised directly by WFP with local communities. Field Level Agreements (FLAs) with Implementing Partners (IPs) and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with communities are being finalized. An additional 4,700 MT of different food commodities will be available for dispatch to Somalia in the coming week. Further loan options are currently being discussed with other WFP operations in the region.

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According to the ReliefWeb:   

An OCHA-led mission comprising UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, VSF, SCUK, TAKULO (local NGO), SORAC (local NGO), PASWEN (Puntland State Agency for Water Energy and Natural Resources) and HADMA (Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency) assessed the needs in Qandala, Alula and Ishkushuban districts, Bari region, in Puntland State of Somalia, from 1-8 February. The mission observed severe water shortages, population movements away from villages in search of water, with vulnerable people and IDPs staying behind. Recommendations for the immediate future include subsidizing water, water trucking in remote areas, improving existing water sources, food and medical assistance to the displaced, and improving human and animal health services. The mission report is being finalised. 

This sounds like too little too LATE! Having said that, I hope this will pave the way for more comprehensive and effective food crisis relief effort both in Somalia and in the international arena. Click here to view the full update on the ReliefWeb. 

The British Charity, Oxfam issued Press Release yesterday and said: 

Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk in Somalia because of chronic water shortages, according to a new assessment by aid agency Oxfam International. The assessment found pastoralist families forced to exist on only one twentieth of the daily water supply recommended by minimum humanitarian standards. Many families are surviving on just a 20-litre jerry can of water for 3 days. This is equivalent to 830 ml, or three glasses of water, per person per day for drinking, cooking and washing. Oxfam’s assessment team also gathered reports of people being forced to drink their own urine because of the desperate thirst the drought has caused. 

Click here to view the full Press Release by Oxfam International. Click here for Oxfam’s Somalia resources page. 

The BBC News Reports:   

The severe drought in East Africa has led to fighting over water resources between Somali tribes in Ethiopia. At least 12 people have died and over 20 have been wounded in clashes in Yamarug village on the Somali border. Fighting broke out on Wednesday after the drought in the region increased competition for water and pasture. The clashes were between members of the Marehan and Majereteen factions of the Darod clan. Parts of Somalia are in the grip of the worst dought in 40 years. “The fighting has not stopped and miltiamen from both sides heading to reinforce the area,” an unnamed local official told the AFP news agency. The Ethiopian government is sending a fact-finding mission to the area, an Information Ministry official told AFP. 

Click here to view the full Dispatch on the BBC News. You may also like to click here for a dispatch on this story by the Reuter’s AlertNet. 

Mohamed Elmi, Oxfam regional programme manager was quoted as saying:

The situation is as bad as I can remember. Some people are dying and children are drinking their own urine because there is simply no water for them to drink. (…)Many families are surviving on just a 20-litre jerry can of water for three days.  (…) This is equivalent to 830 ml, or three glasses, of water per person per day for drinking, cooking and washing. (…)The situation will get worse unless swift action is taken. (…) People cannot survive on just three glasses of water a day when the temperature is hitting 40 degrees. (…) Without water, children will die and the livestock on which pastoralists depend will end up as rotting corpses around dry wells.

This horrifying and tragic story should not surprise anyone! Experts both inside and out the country have been issuing dire warnings for months. Unfortunately, the international community and specially the media seem to be paying a lip service to this emerging catastrophe in front of our eyes! However, the blame should squarely be on the shoulders of the destructive Mogadishu warlords and Sharif Xasan Aadan; Speaker of the transitional Somali federal parliament. The fact is, if Sharif Xasan did not destroy the planned installation of the Somali Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu, the political and the security situation in the country would have been different. Indeed, the UN would not be begging for access to the Somali victims of this devastating drought.

In short, the fracture of the Somali peace accord due to Sharif Xasan’s reckless political maneuvers caused the destabilization of the TFG and inflicted serious political and security problems for the Somali Nation. This in turn caused a major delay for the TFG to function properly. The destructive Mogadishu warlords on their part refused the TFG to settle down and operate from the Somali capital as it should, thus weakening further the TFG’s ability to function properly.  As I wrote earlier, the tribal warlords killed thousands of innocent Somalis and now they intend to kill hundred of thousands if not millions through starvation by the looting the food supplies for the hungry Somalis. This must not be tolerated. The myopic Somali tribalists must recognize that the tribal warlords that they are supporting politically and economically are indeed destroying their communities though starvation! 

Click here to view the full dispatch on Reuters AlertNet.

Following is Press Release by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It reads: 

Press Release: 15 February 2006 

Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Special Advisers on Horn of Africa.

The Government has appointed Special Advisers on the Horn of Africa. The Government’s Special Adviser on the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Marika Fahlén, will lead and coordinate Swedish efforts to support a peaceful solution to the conflicts in Sudan and Somalia, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The assignment includes contacts and dialogue with the relevant governments and international actors as well as with Swedish stakeholders and organisations with active interests in the Horn of Africa. 

Click here to learn about the Swedish Government. 

The South African Mail and Guardian newspaper reports:   

The worst drought to hit Somalia in a decade could soon begin claiming lives in the Horn of Africa nation, the international Red Cross warned on Wednesday. 

The paper quoted Pascal Hundt; head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission (Somalia) as saying:   

If there is no rapid, effective response to this crisis now, and if there is no rain in April, the situation is going to get worse, and people will start getting hungry — and will start dying. (…)We are seeing a process of spreading poverty,” said Hundt. “People have sold the few goods they had, and they can’t sell their animals because they are no longer worth anything on the market. They are running out of ways to survive.

Click here to view the full article on the Mail & Guardian. 

David Blair; Africa Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London writes: 

The worst drought in decades has turned a swathe of Africa into a dustbowl and left almost 12 million people dependent on aid, the United Nations said yesterday. Large areas of East Africa have had their lowest rainfall since 1961. Millions who survive on subsistence agriculture are seeing their crops die, while nomadic tribes cannot water their cattle. 

Click here to view the full article on the Telegraph. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued the following statement earlier today. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is stepping up its emergency operation to assist more than half a million people in areas affected by the drought and armed violence in Somalia and Ethiopia over the next five months. The severe drought is compounding an already appalling humanitarian situation in an area debilitated by sporadic armed confrontations that have forced thousands of families to flee their homes. Tens of thousands of people, including those affected in north-eastern Kenya, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

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The South African Independent Online reports:   

Militias in Somalia are looting shipments of aid for drought victims and forcing aid drivers to pay bribes, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Attacks by Somali pirates in recent months have caused aid agencies to start transporting relief supplies over land and the convoys have been subjected to pillaging by gun-toting militias at hundreds of road blocks across the country.   

The paper quoted Max Gaylard; the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia as saying:   

We need across the board support and commitment of everyone to ensure access and protection so that we can alleviate the suffering of Somalis. (…)We cannot do so if the food convoys, medical supplies and other critically needed assistance are targeted by opportunists and so called uncontrolled militiamen. 

Well, the tribal warlords killed thousands of innocent Somalis and now they intend to kill hundred of thousands if not millions through starvation by looting the looting the food supplies for the hungry Somalis. This must not be tolerated. The myopic Somali tribalists must recognize that the tribal warlords that they are supporting politically and economically are indeed destroying their communities though starvation!  Mr. Gaylard must stop being too “politically correct” and ask for an international security force through the United Nations. The UN’s policy towards Somalia is full of contradictions and it needs a major overhaul! The UN cannot complain about security problems hampering food distribution to the staving Somalis and at the same time refuse Peace-Keeping forces to come to Somalia. This sounds silly, counter-productive and illogical! 

Click here to view the full article on the IOL. 

Following is a Press Release from the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia; Mr Maxwell Gaylard.

The Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mr Maxwell Gaylard, is appealing to local communities, political and business leaders for a general mobilization to fight the unprecedented humanitarian crisis aggravated by the worst drought in a decade. Community leaders are urged to ensure unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to populations in need, as well as to ensure the protection of all humanitarian workers in Somalia.  “It is imperative that community elders, religious and political leaders, businessmen and militia create an environment conducive to impartial and independent humanitarian operations. We want to work closely with the Transitional Federal Government, regional authorities and community leaders to quickly reach people in need of assistance and protection, and save the lives that we can,” says Mr Maxwell Gaylard. “We are already seriously challenged by the logistics in central and southern Somalia, and with predicted poor next rains, the situation could quickly deteriorate further. We need across the board support and commitment of everyone to ensure access and protection so that we can alleviate the suffering of Somalis. We cannot do so if the food convoys, medical supplies and other critically-needed assistance are targeted by opportunists and so called uncontrolled militiamen.”

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The Stratfor online reports:

Somalia’s president, prime minister, and parliamentary speaker have agreed to work together to promote national unity, the leaders said in a joint-statement released Feb. 13. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi and Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden concluded a three-day meeting by pledging to work closely together to unite the country’s 275-member legislature and restore confidence in the remainder of the Transitional Federal Government. The three leaders also urged Somali’s to “stop inter-clan wars and meaningless hostilities” in an effort to end the ongoing anarchy and benefit all citizens. 

Well, we have been here before haven’t we? I do not want my hopes shattered again. Hence, I am inclined to stay as a hard-headed skeptic for few more weeks and wait until tangible political returns are achieved! Having said that, I must say that it seems to me that the nuts and bolts of the Somali tribal political puzzle are getting together at last! 

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and wait for a better outcome this time around! 

Stratfor online is a paid service. Hence, no link for further access of the website is provided here. Sorry!

We have contracted several agencies in the United Nations system, countless number of NGOs, ICRC and many governments in the West and the Arab World. We will occasionally publish selected email responses from our current campaign to inform the world about the plight of the starving Somali people in Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and in Western Somalia (Ogaden) occupied by the Ethiopia.

Below is an email we received from the UNDP Somalia office in Nairobi. The email summarizes the food crisis emergency relief efforts by the UN system and some other international humanitarian agencies.

1.  There is now a common understanding of the magnitude of the crisis. The already dire humanitarian situation is now further aggravated by the worst drought in Somalia in a decade. Approximately 1.9 million people are in need of urgent assistance and protection, including up to 400 000 IDPs. The Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) of FAO further estimates that about 240,000 people are at high risk of falling into a state of Acute Food an Livelihood Crisis. Hence, the number of people in a state of livelihood crisis and humanitarian emergency has almost tripled (more than 500,000 people identified in the Post 2005 Gu survey and now almost 1.5 million people) . More than 600′000 people - some of whom were already in a state of humanitarian emergency - in Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba and areas of Bay and Bakool face a moderate risk of famine.  FSAU reports total crop failure in 6 Southern regions and livestock loss up to 80% in some districts in Gedo.

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