Horn of Africa hit by worst drought in 60 years

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

No Rain for to years and the dadab refugee camp, already the biggest in the is getting bigger

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14020452

[London2010]

It's God's Curse on them.

[Showqi]

Illahay ha u sakhiro dadka ku dhibaataysan Dadaab

[Mayaani]

Ilaahay ha ka dulqaado dhibaatada haysata Umada Somaliyeed.

[burahadeer]

bad management,bad polotics...all they need is reservours,putting aside grazing areas for dry season.more than 80% of land has water if rigs positioned where needed.ofc dat's price we have to pay for our short comings.Some will make to see anotha day!!!!!

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14055303" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

AFRICA

 

6 July 2011 Last updated at 02:29 ET

Somalia food crisis reaching 'unimaginable proportions'

The levels of malnutrition among children fleeing Somalia's drought could lead to a "human tragedy of unimaginable proportions", the UN refugee head Antonio Guterres has said.

Young children are dying on their way to or within a day of arrival at camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, the UNHCR says.

It estimates that a quarter of Somalis are either displaced within the country or living outside as refugees.

The worst drought in 60 years has been compounded by the violence in Somalia.

"It's so extreme," said UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. "Our people are saying they've never seen anything like it."

The warning comes as the UK aid agencies Oxfam, Save the Children, and the Red Cross launch emergency appeals in response to the food crisis which is affecting more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa.

The agencies are collectively asking for nearly $150m (£93m).

The UNHCR says the need for food, shelter, health services and other life saving aid is urgent and massive.

Life-long impact

The agency says more than 50% of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are seriously malnourished. In Kenya, that figure is between 30% and 40%.

"What is the most tragic for us to witness, is that there are children who do arrive in such a weakened state that despite our emergency care and therapeutic feeding, they're dying within 24 hours," Ms Fleming told a press briefing in Geneva.

"We estimate that one quarter of Somalia's 7.5 million people are now either internally displaced or are living outside the country as refugees," she said.

The UNHCR recently opened a third camp in south-eastern Ethiopia, which is quickly reaching its capacity of 20,000, and is now planning further camps.

A relief plane chartered by the agency is flying to Addis Ababa on Tuesday and a convoy of 20 trucks carrying tents and other aid is on its way as well.

In north-east Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, some 1,400 refugees are arriving every day. Aid agencies fear numbers could rise to half a million.

Badu Katelo, Kenya's Commissioner for Refugee Affairs, said food and water distribution, shelter and space were all over stretched and that the security situation was getting worse.

"We would like to see a vibrant, committed intervention from the international community," he said.

The BBC's Ben Brown, at the Dadaab camp, says infant mortality has risen threefold, with many children under the age of five dying within a few days of arrival.

Families have walked for days with hardly any food or water to reach the camp, says our correspondent - some say they were robbed or raped on the way or attacked by animals.

Exodus continues

Some say they have to wait days on reaching the camp before being given more than a few basic rations.

Nicholas Wasunna, senior adviser for World Vision in Kenya, said malnutrition in children under five could affect them for the rest of their lives.

"If they do not get the nutritional requirement they need in the first five years of their lives, there will be stunting and this [is] irreversible, and therefore they will never be able to live really their full potential," he said.

"We have to see as something we address immediately because it is unacceptable that children should be stunted."

Ms Fleming said there was no sign of the exodus of Somalis ending.

"The relentless violence that's compounded by a terrible drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee Somalia so far this year," she said.

"In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, and that is three times the number [of people who fled] in May. So this is a huge spike."

Somalia has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years - its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Briefing Notes, 5 July 2011

 

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 5 July 2011, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

 

The massive influx of Somali refugees into neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia continues unabated. Relentless violence compounded by devastating drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee so far this year. In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, three times the number of people who fled in May.

 

We estimate a quarter of Somalia's 7.5 million population is now either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees. The drought is compounded by prevailing violence in southern and central parts of the country.

 

UNHCR is particularly disturbed by unprecedented levels of malnutrition among the new arrivals – especially among refugee children. More than 50 per cent of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are seriously malnourished, while among those arriving to Kenya that rate is somewhat lower, but equally worrying – between 30 to 40 per cent.

 

"Knowing that children are dying along their journey to safety breaks our hearts." UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres said. "This is turning one of the world's worst humanitarian crises into a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions."

 

Prevailing violent conflict inside Somalia makes it difficult if not impossible for aid agencies to reach these people with assistance. Many families tell us they exhausted virtually all of their resources. Facing starvation, they walk for days, several weeks at times, through the desert, arriving in an appalling state of health.

 

Increasingly, we are hearing reports of children below the age of five dying of hunger and exhaustion during the journey. Tragically, many children are in such weak conditions when they finally arrive that they die within 24 hours despite the emergency care and therapeutic feeding they immediately receive.

 

In Dadaab refugee camp complex in Kenya, where refugees arrive at a rate of 1,400 per day, UNHCR and its partners are distributing high energy biscuits for instant calories and micronutrients. These are life-saving interventions. In addition to malnutrition, overcrowding of the camps, which already host more than 382,000 people, is a major concern.

 

In Ethiopia, refugees are registered at the border by authorities before being transferred to a UNHCR transit centre where they receive hot meals and go through health and nutrition screening. UNHCR recently opened a new camp at Kobe, the third in South-East Ethiopia, which is quickly reaching its capacity of 20,000.Together with Ethiopian authorities and in anticipation of a continued influx, we have identified a fourth site and discussions are underway about the location of the fifth camp.

 

As part of UNHCR response, a UNHCR-chartered Boeing 747 cargo plane is scheduled to land in Addis Ababa later today, delivering 100 tonnes of relief items from our emergency stockpile in Dubai. A land convoy of some 20 trucks loaded with thousands of tents and other aid left from Djibouti yesterday afternoon and is expected to reach the Ethiopian capital on Thursday. The High Commissioner is scheduled to visit the border areas with Somalia of Ethiopia and Kenya as well as the refugee camps later this week.

 

A UNHCR appeal covering the needs of protection, food, shelter, health services and other life-saving aid supplies is about to be issued. The needs are urgent and massive. In the light of the urgency of the situation, UNHCR not only calls on governments but also on individual donors and the private sector to urgently support our life-saving operations in Ethiopia and Kenya. To donate, please go to the UNHCR website: http://www.unhcr.org/emergency/somalia/.

 

There are now more than 750,000 Somali refugees living in the region, mostly in neighbouring Kenya (405,000), Yemen (187,000) and Ethiopia (110,000). Another 1.46 million are displaced within Somalia.

 

For further information on this topic, please contact:

 

In Nairobi, Kenya: Emmanuel Nyabera, on mobile +254 733 99 59 75

In Ethiopia: Kisut Gebre Egziabher, on mobile +25 19 11 20 89 01

In Geneva: Andrej Mahecic, on mobile +41 79 200 76 17

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

[Che -Guevara]

AS dropped the ball on this one and will pay for it politically, financially and militarily.

[NASSIR]

It's a slow genocide against our war-wearied population and the ignorant extremists are squarely responsible for it. They banned the aid agencies.

 

Recurrent draught cycles are getting shorter due to the widrspread deforestation in Somalia from Sanaag region to Lowe Juba. I think we should nationally address the issue of deforestation by educating the public on local media and stiff penalty must be imposed on the charcoal profiteers. We should invest in projects for water drilling rigs.

[Che -Guevara]

^Addressing an issue like deforestation within the current realities and without viable government that can enforce laws and hands down penalties is exercise in futility. At the stage, a drastic change is needed in the political landscape, just change can only be achieved if the likes you and I forfeit their loyalties to any particular group and work towards the common good.

[x-madiino]

roob iyo barwaaqo allaha siiyo,, dhibaatada allaha ka saaro umada somaliyed,, wa dhiban yihiin,, dambi dhaaf ne allaha ugu dhigo aaamin yaa rabi

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Geed la jaro, geedo la gooyo, geeda la gubo -- soon or later inay tan iyo mid ka daran dhaceyso ma ogeyn miyaa dadkeena.

 

Walaahi abaaraha ka taagan dhamaan Soomaaliweyn waa murugo aad u weyn. Just last night on Universal channel, hooyo Soomaaliyeed ayaa ku ooyneysay iyadoo la wareysanaayo. I wasn't watching it, but waxa la ii sheegay inay tiri dhowr ciyaal inay dhashay kana soo qaxday Shabeellaha Hoose, sadex jidka ku dhinteen intee soo socdeen, hal kalena meydkiisa kaamirada qabaneysay oo xoogahoo yar kahor geeriyooday inta la wareysan, midkii u dambeeyana bastiisa ahaa. Dad ama hay'ad u maqan ma lahayn, wey iska ooyneysay sida la ii sheegay. Now boqolaal kun sideeda camal ku jiro, walaa Wajeer ilaa Jabuuti wada gaartay.

 

Eebboow amuuraha sahal.

[NASSIR]

Che -Guevara;732454 wrote:

^Addressing an issue like deforestation within the current realities and without viable government that can enforce laws and hands down penalties is exercise in futility. At the stage, a drastic change is needed in the political landscape, just change can only be achieved if the likes you and I forfeit their loyalties to any particular group and work towards the common good.

 

That's what I base my views on and genuine support. I believe in Somali unity and thusly advocate for the rights of neglected regions and the bottom up approach