Drought-hit Somali region facing dire situation

Panic is beginning to set in among drought-hit families in Somali region, where poor rains have exacerbated water shortages, the government and aid organisations said on Wednesday. Poor rains had led to "significant livestock deaths", according to the government’s regional emergency arm and Save the Children UK. Fears were also mounting among communities that a drought of the magnitude of 2000 – when an estimated 50,000 people died – could be in the making, it added. "It is now almost three weeks into the deyr season in the seven-deyr receiving zones of Somali region, and there are signs that the deyr rains are not performing well," said a report from the government’s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau and SCF UK. "Due to the poor performance of the deyr rains, the local populations, who are largely pastoral and agro-pastoral, are beginning to panic." Most of Somali region receives two sets of rains during the year – the deyr and gu rains. Both rains were poor during 2003 and 2004. More than four million people live in the dry, remote region, which is made up of nine zones and has a 1,600-km border with neighbouring Somalia. The population are largely nomadic pastoralists whose lifestyle is dependent on the animals they keep. "Poor deyr rains this year will therefore have very serious consequences and the population is worried that a situation similar to the 1999/2000 drought maybe in the making, particularly if the deyr rains continue to perform poorly," the report noted. "Migrations for water and pasture are now getting more frequent and with animals already weakened by the long dry spell and areas that have received the rains being few and far between, there is a likelihood of more livestock deaths caused by the stress of migration." "It is therefore important that no time is lost in the implementation of the emergency response plan with modifications to incorporate the impact of a deyr rain failure," the report said. In parts of Warder Zone, livestock migration from Somalia was placing additional burdens on already over-stretched resources. In Dagahbour zone the situation was "very worrying". Gode, hard hit during the 2000 drought, water and food shortages "remains of major concern" added the Food Security Monitoring and Early Warning Programme appeal.