Enforcement of dusk to dawn curfew proves difficult in Puntland

[Deeq A.]

The president of Puntland State H.E Said A. Deni made a highly needed state wide call and warned his people the fatality and tragedy that Covid19 pandemic could cause and ordered citizens to stay home and practice social distancing. Other honorable leaders including Prime Minister Khayre and Senator Farole addressed the public through media and explained how social distancing is important and the ruthlessness of this pandemic and appealed to the public to stay their homes for the coming two weeks.

Puntland Police chief Gen. Muhyadeen also warned the business community not to take advantage and profit from the dire situation the country is facing and told them not to price gouge the necessary commodities that people desperately need such as foods, fuel, facemasks and sanitizers. He underlined the immorality and disgracefulness to profit from the challenges posed by the Coronavirus calamity.

To mitigate the chaos and the social unrest that Covid19 could cause, the government of Puntland lifted the taxes on Medical supplies and regular foods. Puntland also closed the border with Somaliland and the Somali regional state of Ethiopia. They only allowed a time bounded entry for the Somali students who were coming from Ethiopia between 28th of March to 30th March 2020.

In Puntland, fears are growing that the mishandling of the curfew and stay-at-home orders could weaken the efforts to stem the pandemic’s advance in the non-effected regions of the country.

Despite the fact that this contemporary curfew is severely affecting the society’s most underprivileged groups like the internally displaced people (IDPs) and breadwinners, but it’s necessary to take preventive measures to contain this notorious Coronavirus that doesn’t discriminate poor and rich, men or women.

Maadey Abdi 37, a father of six said “Stay home orders is not an option for many people in Somalia. We don’t have savings, we only rely on our daily earnings and we cannot accept the curfew unless the government comes up with another solution and bring something to eat upfront like other governments did”.

Many host residents and IDPs did not take Covid-19-the pandemic that started in China and has now affected over 1.2 Million people globally and caused more than 65,000 deaths, until the curfew was announced in Puntland.

Puntland’s dusk till dawn curfew in major cities took effect on April 2nd and was intended to control the spread of the Coronavirus and reassure social distancing. It seems that the curfew and stay at home orders only served the other way round, and increased social contact and social gatherings for the following two main reasons:

1. The curfew starts at 06:00 PM and extends until 06:00AM, which resulted people to gather around with more numbers more than ever. Cafeterias, restaurants, markets and mosques are overwhelmed by the Khat clients, students and other employees affected by the stay home orders.
2. The government banned the use of public transport buses that dwell in the town but pave the way for their rival. Bajaj is still working and people are using it over crowdedly now more than ever, since the buses were banned. They are operating in areas they’ve never before and serving for passengers that never used it.

The most important thing was the closure of the borders and stoppage of all international and local flights and banning of the Khat. We can do better by increasing the number of handwashing facilities in every government office, agencies, markets, Mosques, public latrines, and enforce the stay-home instructions in everywhere possible.

Somalia confirmed its first Covid19 case in 16th March. A Somali citizen who returned from one of the countries effected the virus. Ethiopia and Kenya confirmed their first Covid19 cases in 13th of March but Djibouti confirmed their first case in 14th of March. The confirmed cases in Somalia are still low compared to the neighboring countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, where Covid19 cases rose rapidly to 43 and 142 respectively.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO, has warned that official numbers may underestimate the scale of infection on the continent. “In other countries we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain sloping point, so the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today.”

Maintaining curfew and social-distancing in the IDP camps

IDP camps and informal settlements are also part of the physical infrastructures of many cities in Puntland. All of them were overcrowded and lacked services even before the threat of a global health crisis emerged. These people are in slums and the government and INGOs are barely aware of their conditions.

Social distancing, self-isolation regular handwashing are even impossible in the IDP camps. Think of Bosaso IDP camps where hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to live in a very tiny congested homes. Anyone who worked there or regularly use Bajaj in major towns knows that the idea of social distancing is a myth.

While all people are affected by the curfew to contain Covid-19 pandemic, not all populations are affected equally. Lower-income households and elderly individuals with underlying health conditions are particularly at-risk. Among the most vulnerable categories are the IDPs who live in a very congested places that could favor the spread rapidly. Humanitarian agencies are warning that it may be difficult to stop the spread of the virus in such places, where sanitary precautions are difficult to maintain and social distancing is impossible. Vast majority of the IDPs can’t afford a soap and the water scarcity is high.

Our fragile health system

Somalia in general had no well sophisticated government or privately owned health service for the last three decades, and we couldn’t able to cope with a fast spreading disease like the Corona virus. It obviously does not require a pandemic to expose the gaps in the health system. If developed systems like in USA, Italy and Spain can experience under pressured and exhausted from COVID-19, one can only imagine the impact this will have on front-line health staff of Somalia who are without adequate training, protective equipment and even basic drugs.

By: Osman Ali Mohamed

Afeef:- PUNTLAND POST marnaba masuul kama aha aragtida dadka kale, aragtida qoraalkan waxaa leh qofka ku saxiixan, waxaan kaliya oo dhiirigalinaa isdhaafsiga aragtida.

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