Conflict and viral fever hurting northeasterners

Mohamed Idris retired after years of working as a government driver and invested all his pension benefits in livestock, buying 50 heads of cattle in Afgoy, southern Somalia, to sell in neighbouring Kenya.

He had just concluded the purchase when Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops attacked the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which had controlled the capital of Mogadishu and large parts of the south for some time, driving the Islamists south.

As the war quickly spread, Idris abandoned his cattle in Somalia and returned to Kenya. "All my savings are gone less than a year after I retired," he told IRIN in the northeastern town of Garissa.

Soon, however, the Somali conflict calmed down, prompting Idris to think he could pick up the pieces - until Rift Valley Fever (RVF) hit northeastern Kenya two months ago. "The disease has added to the never-ending problems afflicting families here," he said.

Idris is just one of many local people living along the Kenya-Somalia border who depend on livestock for food and income and whose fortunes have been affected by conflict and disease.

According to the Livestock Traders and Marketing Association of Kenya, livestock farmers in the region are experiencing heavy losses. Trade between Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia has been disrupted especially by the closure of the Kenya-Somalia border.

"We have lost business and many traders have lost all their money because they cannot get to Somalia," Adan Duale, chief executive of the association, said. "It is obvious that Kenya will not be able to supply animals to a number of foreign countries as promised - meaning contracts must be reviewed and livestock traders assisted."

Somali conflict

Kenya closed its border with Somalia as fighting intensified in December, citing security concerns. Apart from affecting traders such as Duale, at least 2,000 Somali children who attend schools in northeastern Kenya failed to return to classes after schools re-opened.

Humanitarian operations to help thousands of Somalis were also affected. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), negotiations with Kenya to allow trucks carrying humanitarian supplies into Somalia are continuing.

The situation in Somalia remains fragile since the UIC were routed. This week, residents of Mogadishu said leaflets, purportedly from the UIC, warning people against collaborating with the Ethiopians and the government, have been circulating in the city.

The tension continues to prompt some residents to contemplate leaving the city. Aid workers worry that some could end up at the Kenya border - thereby justifying the Kenyan government's reluctance to open the frontier and hurting people such as Duale even more.

Impact of RVF

After the Kenyan health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak of RVF when samples taken from Garissa District tested positive for the disease in December, Kenya also banned the sale or slaughter of livestock in affected areas.

Garissa is the epicentre of the outbreak, but the disease has spread to adjacent pastoral districts including Wajir, Ijara, Tana River and Kilifi, killing at least 88 people.

According to the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net), the RVF outbreak has exacerbated food insecurity among pastoralists already suffering from severe drought over the last three years, followed by floods between October and December 2006.

Livestock movements have been constrained by restrictions to control the RVF outbreak. "As a result, pastoral households face a substantial reduction in income and food access due to the ban on trade and slaughter of livestock," FEWS Net said in a report published on 18 January.

FEWS Net said political tensions in Somalia could result in the movement of pastoralists and livestock in and out of the country, despite the ban, spreading RVF beyond Kenya.

According to Duale, Kenyan traders used to buy at least 10,000 heads of cattle monthly from Somalia before the conflict and the RVF outbreak. Many of the traders abandoned their livestock inside Somalia.

Officials say the disease is being contained, with the ban on the sale and slaughter of livestock in Northeastern Province still in place.

"What I can confirm now is that RVF is under control in Kenya," said Kariuki Njenga, a virologist and laboratory director for the United States Centers for Disease Control in Kenya and the Kenya Medical Research Institute. "We are working together and have increased surveillance throughout the country, especially in livestock areas."

For Duale, government reassurances have come very late. "Why did the government close the Somali border without notifying people and yet many of them depend on cross-border trade?" he asked.

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