IRIN Interview with Manuel Aranda Da Silva

Manuel Aranda Da Silva, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Drought in the Horn of Africa and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, spoke to IRIN about the food crisis in Kenya and the situation in the Horn of Africa. Da Silva recently told the press that because of “very negative experiences” in Kenya in the past with corruption, donors may be nervous to respond quickly to the present crisis. Yet since the launch of the latest Greater Horn appeal in June, for $386 million, Kenya has become the country most urgently in need of funds - and rains. Q: What did you see during your trip to Kenya? A: First of all, in the Turkana region the malnutrition rates are pretty high, and in this period of the year it is normal that they go up. The food distribution is being done and people are getting the fourth distribution this year. The new systems of distribution are extremely efficient, permitting even people outside the [regional] capital to get food. World Vision is there with their staff in place on the ground and the government is not interfering with the planning of this distribution. The result is, food is getting out to the people. I think it is a kind of stable situation: the malnutrition rates are high, but it is stable. We don’t see severe malnutrition, large scale, like we see in the Somali region of Ethiopia a couple of months ago - and which we can still see. So it’s pretty much under control. The problem is the stress from the lack of rain; that is very high. The livestock are dying. People are moving livestock from the region, so there is large-scale movement of animals together with people. It was very interesting that at all food distribution points you rarely see men; they are moving with the livestock. From Turkana, they are going south. In Marsabit, the second place we visited, assistance started to arrive much more recently and a new system has been in place for the last couple of months. You can see the difference: the malnutrition rates are higher, it’s not stable yet. But, again, the system now in place looks as if it will work well. If the resources keep coming, I think we’ll stabilise the situation. There is the same pattern of movement, with people from that area going over the borders. Q: Is the scale of movement a problem? A: I discussed movement of peoples more in the Mandera region, where a lot of talking is going on between the [national] authorities on this movement across borders. Not just between authorities, but on the community level too. They meet before movement starts and they agree where the livestock can go, and it’s working pretty well. But there are some tensions in the region. We have information of conflicts between populations, clashes around Moyale in Kenya between two clans. Q: Do you think the affect of the drought is increasing conflict in the region? A: The potential for that is very high. So far it is not happening much, but it certainly is there. And the traditional solution, of people moving livestock to another area inside Kenya, is not there because the situation is pretty bad everywhere. So affected people need to move their livestock either south or north. As a result, there is a national movement of livestock to the southern part of Ethiopia where the pasture is better. Q: These are typically very marginalised areas. Do you think the governments are really engaged in this problem? A: It’s very interesting to see there are talks between the governments, and at local level. They decided not to leave it to central level. There was a meeting at central level (between the Ethiopian and Kenyan government) a couple of months ago and they decided that type of talk was not useful. They decided there should be the flexibility to discuss at local level and this is happening - at a very low level of government, but it is happening efficiently - on planning solutions for this type of movement of livestock. This is a good thing, and it is new. Q: Why has Kenya become more of a crisis if the organisation is so good? A: It is the dimension of the drought. It is much higher in Kenya than it is in the rest of the region. In point of view of distribution, it is much better than what is happening in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Assistance is getting to a much large number of people in Kenya, although the resources in Kenya are much more limited. Can this level of distribution be sustained in Kenya over the next month? I don’t know, we don’t have the resources for that. It depends on the donor reaction in the next 10 days. At the moment, since the latest appeal, Kenya has between only 25-30 per cent of the funds requested. There is a big change in the crisis in Kenya. Q: Why do you think the donor response to Kenya was disappointing? A: No, it’s not that it wasn’t good, the response to the UN and government appeal of last November was good and close to 90 percent. No, it was because there was an assumption that rains would be good in April and May, and they were not. So everything must be seen in light of the new appeal. In this new appeal, the most important part is probably the resources that are required for Kenya; more than for any of the other countries where the amount of resources are already much larger. Some of it is the knowledge of the government of Kenya and the public statement, which was very recent. I feel very much that the donors are confident, and are surprised at how organisation and distribution is going so well. I have been in direct contact with local representatives of the main donors and they are praising this new system very highly. The problem is that in the [international] capitals, they have the previous perception. Now, the challenge is to make the international donors believe in the new system, and see that the government doesn’t interfere in the management of the process. There is a major problem in Kenya in that it has had no real attention from the media because people are not starving to death, and we are worried it will not get the resources it needs. Q: How long do you think Kenya will need assistance? A: There will be need of assistance at least up until the end of March. The number of affected given in the appeal - 2.2 million in Kenya - is quite accurate. That is not the number affected, but the number of people MOST affected. There are people outside that number who are still using coping mechanisms. This is the number of people in bad shape, or who will be in bad shape. 250,000 tons of food aid is need for Kenya to cover June to December, but Kenya will need resources beyond December. Q: As the regional representative for the drought, which country gives you the most concern? A: In Ethiopia, what we need to do is to overcome organisational problems in transport, in monitoring and in distribution, and on the organisation of distribution. We need to look at it from a position that resources in Ethiopia are no longer the key issue: the resources are mobilised now. Kenya is just the opposite: we have the organisation in place and it’s working very well, but there is not enough knowledge about the crisis in Kenya among the international donors. We need to work much more to mobilise resources for Kenya. Q: What exactly are the organisational problems in Ethiopia? A: The dimension of the relief operation in Ethiopia is immense, and the normal transport system is already weak there. This is one issue. The other issue is that we need to have much more flexibility in the way contracts of transport are done by the government - but also by the NGOs and the UN system - in order to plug into the resources and use them as efficiently as possible. Q: Has the Ethiopian-Eritrean war contributed to these distribution problems? A: In Ethiopia, of course, the war always has an impact in the sense there is always an additional demand for transport. But it is a limited impact; we cannot say it stops everything. And I hope the ceasefire will reduce that demand for transport. Q: What about the situation in Somalia, a country which is always fragile? A: There are pockets of drought-affected in Somalia, but it’s not that bad. Of course, at any moment, we may have additional conflict. You can say there is a permanent crisis there, and a security situation, so we have to keep a careful eye on it.