Condition of Somaliland returnees “worrying”

A nutritional survey on returnees in Hargeysa, capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, has provoked concern over the level of malnutrition in several resettlement camps in and around the town. The survey, carried out by UNICEF, the Somaliland health ministry and the Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU - funded by USAID and implemented by FAO), predicted a bleak outlook for children already malnourished and lacking special care. “Many of these children are, in fact, likely to die,” said the FSAU August Nutrition Update. Of an estimated total population of 30,500 in seven resettlement camps, 901 children were surveyed using a 30-by-30 two-stage cluster sampling methodology. The report said about 300 - or 5 percent - of children who were severely malnourished at the time of the survey were “unlikely to recover without intensive feeding, and most of them will never reach their full mental or physical potential”. The Somalis have returned to Hargeysa from refugee camps in Ethiopia, and are finding it difficult to get housing, employment and basic amenities after congregating in several resettlement camps around the town. Repatriation had been taking place over a number of years, but had recently intensified following the closure by UNHCR of the camps in Ethiopia, humanitarian sources said. The report warned that most families were living in the camps without adequate shelter, clean water or sanitation. “In an environment of generally better food security, stability and infrastructure such as Somaliland, a malnutrition rate of 15.1 percent is certainly worrying,” FSAU said. The report posed that it was unlikely that this population of around 30,000 would recover and re-establish their lives and livelihoods without assistance. [For full details of FSAU monthly update of information on nutrition report see http://www.reliefweb.int]