POVERTY: SOMALIA: Border town in a fix over water

HARGEISA, 27 March 2012 (IRIN)

 Photo: Mohamed Amin Jibril/IRIN
Water is getting costlier in parts of Somaliland

Water scarcity in Tog-Wajale, a town straddling the border between northwest Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland and Ethiopia, is threatening the health and livelihoods of locals who cannot afford to buy it.
"One barrel of water [200 litres] was only 20 [Ethiopian] birr [US$1], but the price has now reached about 50 Ethiopian birr [$2.5]," said Ahmed Jama Weirah, a father of seven in Tog-Wajale. "We can't provide for our families... because our earnings are not enough to provide food and water."
The Somaliland side of Tog-Wajale has had no official water supply since 1995, following the closure of the town's only well, which had fallen into disrepair. The town's main water sources are a seasonal river that acts as the border between Somaliland and Ethiopia, and expensive pumped water from Ethiopia.
"Now the [river] water is over and we can't afford to buy imported water," said Weirah.
"While livestock have been moved further north where they can find water, townsfolk face water scarcity," said Abdillahi Omar, a resident. "Some families use less than 20 litres per day to cook meals, and they don't take a bath for several days."
Local officials told IRIN they hoped the rains would start soon, but were focusing on long-term solutions.
The dysfunctional well used to supply less than 2,000 litres of water a day, so repairing it would not provide sufficient water for the town’s estimated 40,000 people (up from 10,000 in 1995), said Hashi Mohamed Abdi, the mayor of Tog-Wajale.
Currently about 20,000 litres are pumped from Ethiopia every day, “which is not enough", he said, adding that water was also trucked in from Kalabiat and Gabiley to the northeast of Tog-Wajale.
However, the future looks brighter as the European Union (EU) has agreed to fund a water project in the town.
The EU is funding water projects in several Somaliland towns, including Hargeisa, Burao, Erigavo and Tog-Wajale; the Tog-Wajale water project is due for completion in 2015.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95177/SOMALIA-Border-town-in-a-fix-over-water

POVERTY: SOMALIA: Mortality rates among world's highest in Somaliland

HARGEISA, 2 February 2012 (IRIN) - The self-declared Republic of Somaliland is grappling with high child and maternal mortality rates, malnutrition and inadequate medical personnel, health officials told IRIN.
"Somaliland has one of the worst maternal mortality ratios in the world, estimated to be between 10,443 and 14,004 per 100,000 live births," said Ettie Higgins, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) field office in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland.
"The infant mortality rate is 73/1,000 while the under-five mortality [rate] is about 117/1,000. Fully immunized children represent a mere 5 percent. Environmental sanitation is highly challenged," she said.
"There are a little over 100 doctors in the country, both in the public and private sectors, and about the same number of registered midwives," Higgins explained.
"Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age; it is caused mainly by haemorrhage, puerperal sepsis, eclampsia and obstructed labour," Higgins said, adding that women in Somaliland had a one in 15 risk of dying of maternal-related causes.

Child mortality
Abdillahi Abdi Yusuf, head of Somaliland's National Health Management and Information System (NHMIS) in the Ministry of Health, said acute respiratory infections accounted for 40 percent of child mortality in Somaliland, while acute watery diarrhoea and malnutrition accounted for another 40 percent.
"Diseases that can be prevented through vaccination, such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus, TB, measles and whooping cough cause 20 percent of children's mortality in Somaliland," Yusuf said.
According to NHMIS statistics, in 2011 "acute respiratory infections [excluding pneumonia] were the highest [cause of] morbidity in Somaliland's public health centres".
Other leading causes included "anaemia, urinary tract infections, watery diarrhoea, pneumonia, skin diseases, eye infections, trauma and burns, sexually transmitted infections and bloody diarrhoea".
According to a UNICEF/Ministry of Health Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), diarrhoea is the second-highest cause of morbidity and mortality in Somaliland due to poor sanitation and low rate of access to safe water supplies.
"In Somaliland, only 42 percent of the population have access to latrines and 41 percent have access to safe water supplies," the survey said.
Yasin Nur Tani, a private doctor in Hargeisa, told IRIN: "I used to receive about 20 patients daily, complaining of different ailments; the most common disease is upper respiratory tract infections in all ages while skin disease is second and diarrhoea comes third.
These are then followed by acute gastritis, intestinal parasites, gynaecological and obstetric diseases and other non-communicable diseases including hypertension and diabetes."
Somaliland health authorities, in collaboration with international aid workers, conduct a weekly surveillance of communicable diseases and take action as soon as possible.
"The Ministry's focus on the communicable diseases control programme identifies the control and the prevention of those diseases contributing to the highest burden of disease in the country; these include malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases, HIV/AIDS, meningitis and vaccine preventable diseases," a report [ http://www.emro.who.int/somalia/pdf/Epidemic%20Control-Disease%20tools-EN.pdf ] by the Health Ministry states.
 http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94782

POVERTY: SOMALIA: Yemen returnee numbers soar

HARGEISA, 1 December 2011 (IRIN)

 Photo: UNHCR/J.Björgvinsson
Hundreds of families have returned from Yemen in the past two months, officials said (file photo)

Continuing unrest and xenophobia in Yemen have prompted an upsurge in the number of migrants and refugees returning to Somalia, with up to 6,000 reported to have travelled back across the Red Sea since the beginning of October.
"About 400 Somaliland families and 600 Somali families have returned to Somaliland in the last two months,” said Abdillahi Hussein Egeh, director-general of the Interior Ministry in Somaliland, which unilaterally declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991.
“Somalilanders stay in this country, while the Somalis continue their journey to Somalia," he said.
Despite the unrest in there, thousands of Africans continue to make the perilous crossing, in the other direction, to Yemen, many of them fleeing not only conflict but a widespread food crisis in south-central Somalia.
"Most of those fleeing [Yemen] are afraid of being the target of the two sides, due to their concern that [both] have accused Somalis of supporting their rival," said Mohamed Ahmed, a father of three who arrived in Hargeisa, Somalia, in late October.
"I have been captured twice, once by the government forces and again by the opposition. Electricity, water and other basic services are erratic due to the crisis,” he said. The final straw that had pushed him to return to Somalia was the bombing of the university in Yemen, where he used to live.
“My wife and children are still in Yemen, because I was unable able to pay for their transport,” he said, explaining that boat fares have risen significantly.

Livestock trade affected
Somaliland used to export about 15,000 head of livestock every month to Yemen but now only exports a third of that figure, according to local businessmen.
"This is because the livestock can't reach the remote places of Yemen," said Abdi Said, a livestock exporter in Somaliland.
"Our income has decreased. For example, one person used to send 500 head of cattle per month,” he said. “This has gone down to 100 per month.”
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94358

POVERTY: SOMALIA: Drought-displaced "in tens of thousands"

HARGEISA/NAIROBI, 30 March 2011 (IRIN) -  Photo: Mohamed Amin Jibril/IRIN: "There is not a single region from the south to the north that is not suffering [from drought],” Abdi Haji Gobdon, spokesman for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), told IRIN

With drought spreading to almost all regions of Somalia, officials and aid workers have expressed concern for those affected, saying drought was now a major cause of displacement.
"Drought, not insecurity, is now the main reason for new displacement in Somalia," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Somalia) said in a March update. "More than 52,000 people have been displaced due to drought since 1 December 2010, many of them moving to urban areas in search of assistance."
In particular, the capital, Mogadishu, had experienced an increased influx of drought-affected pastoralists, said OCHA.
"Although migration of people and livestock is not unusual during the dry season, this appears to be the first time ever pastoralists and their livestock have migrated into the capital, a situation that portrays the severity of the drought situation in the country," OCHA said.
Abdi Haji Gobdon, spokesman for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), told IRIN on 30 March: "The drought is spreading and getting worse. We are getting reports not only of livestock dying but people too.
"There is not a single region from the south to the north that is not suffering,” he said.

Aid appeal
Gedo in the southwest, parts of southern regions and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, as well as central Somali regions, are the worst affected, according to Gobdon.
"Livestock are dying in their thousands, with families losing everything," he said, adding that the drought had forced many pastoralists into camps for the displaced. "They have lost everything and they think they may get help if they reach the camps."
Gobdon said the TFG could not address the situation alone and appealed to the international community for assistance.
"The problem with this drought is how long it has been going on," he said.
Gu rains should have started in most parts of the country. Gobdon said: "In a good year, it should be raining by now, but we have not seen a drop yet."
Targeting livelihoods
In response to the drought, the Common Humanitarian Fund for Somalia allocated US$4.5 million in March in emergency funding, targeting agriculture and livelihoods; water, sanitation and hygiene.
In the self-declared republic of Somaliland, more than four months of drought have led to disease outbreaks and severe water shortages, with government officials appealing for help for the most drought-affected populations.
"The government of Somaliland has appealed for support; so far we have collected about $500,000 from the public, which we spent on water-trucking to the drought-affected in remote areas," Hussein Abdi Du'alle, Somaliland's Minister for Water and Minerals, told a press conference in the capital, Hargeisa.
"Initially, only three regions were affected but now the drought has reached everywhere," Mohamed Muse Awale, the chairman of Somaliland's National Environmental Research and Disaster Preparedness Commission, said.
Mohamed Abdillahi, an elder in Hudun, 83km northeast of Las-anod district in Sool region, told IRIN: "The biggest problem is water shortages; water is trucked from Burou in Togdheer region, 260-270km away, and its price keeps rising. For example, a barrel [200l] of water was only $8 three months ago, now it is $15."

Deaths reported
In Sool region, eastern Somaliland, officials have reported four deaths following an outbreak of diarrhoea. Ali Bile, head of Awr-Bogeys health post in Sool, 50km northeast of Las-anod, said all four deaths - a man and three children - occurred in the past week.
Ali Bulale, mayor of Hudun district, said at least 40 people in the district had contracted diarrhoea, mostly children.
"The district was one of the few places which enjoyed the Deyr [long] rains; this caused many people from Sanag, Sool, Togdheer and even from Puntland to gather here in search of pasture," Bulale said. "Now nothing of the pasture is left."
Ahmed Abdi Bile, coordinator of the Red Crescent in Somaliland, said: "There are six mobile health-sector teams giving food to malnourished children in the regions of Sool, Sanag and Sahel. With the collaboration of UNICEF [UN Children's Fund], there are also seven more teams doing the same job in the regions of Sool, Sahel, Togdher, Awdal and Sanag."
Mark Bowden, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, has called for humanitarian access to support Somalis affected by drought.
"I am extremely concerned about the impact of the current drought on the well-being of children, women and the general population in Somalia," he said in a statement. "Severe water shortages require collective efforts and further cooperation at all levels to deliver a well-coordinated response to mitigate the consequences of the drought on the lives of the Somali population."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92323

POVERTY: SOMALIA: Record charcoal prices in Somaliland prompt search for alternatives

 Photo: Mohamed Amin Jibril/IRIN
As the viability of pastoralism diminishes, many pastoralists have turned to charcoal production to make ends meet

HARGEISA, 8 March 2011 (IRIN) - Record charcoal prices in Somalia's self-declared independent region of Somaliland are threatening the livelihoods of many poor urban families who have limited alternative energy sources.
"Charcoal prices in Somaliland have increased in the past six months from 25,000 [Somaliland] shillings [US$5.50] per 25kg sack to 40,000 shillings [$7.50], making it difficult to us to buy charcoal, which we depend on to cook food for our families," Muna Ahmed, an internally displaced mother of nine, told IRIN. "We are now suffering; we do not know what to cook with."
The average urban household uses two to three bags of charcoal per month. In 2005, this monthly expenditure was about $10.
Abdi-Risak Bashir Libah, an environmental director at Candlelight for Health, Education and Environment, an NGO, said: "Because of the increasing urban population in Somaliland and the high demand for charcoal, its prices will increase even more. The problem will continue, unless alternatives are found.”
Some 95 percent of Somaliland’s 1.6m urban residents – about half the total population – use charcoal as their main source of cooking energy. This amounts to an annual consumption of some two million bags and up to 2.5 million trees, according to a 2007 report by the Academy for Peace and Development (APD).
The consequent deforestation reduces rainfall, soil depth and grass cover in Somaliland, where up to 65 percent of the population are pastoralists. As the viability of this livelihood diminishes, many pastoralists have turned to charcoal production to make ends meet, further accelerating the deforestation.

Alternatives
In an effort to slow down this vicious cycle, the government has imposed load limits on charcoal trucks, and is working on longer-term solutions, according to Abdikarim Aden Omar, director of the Environment Department in Somaliland's Ministry of Livestock, Environment and Pastoralist Development.
We are now suffering; we do not know what to cook with
"We know that prices of woodland charcoal have increased, even though it is the only energy for cooking in Somaliland; but as a ministry, we can't do anything in the short term. Our plan is to put in place a long-term strategy, which includes searching for investments in coal [of which Somaliland has considerable unexploited deposits], solar, and gas energy sources," Omar said.
In 2005, a presidential task force was set up to look into alternatives to charcoal, but political upheavals in the country interfered. “After we discussed the issue, we agreed to send some people to India to get more experience, because India uses cattle waste as cooking energy,” Somaliland's former vice-president, Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, told IRIN. “But before we did that, the new government came in [after parliamentary elections in September 2005].”
Libah says Candlelight has also been exploring alternatives to charcoal. "We have urged the government to decrease taxes on gas and kerosene stoves as well as on natural gas," he said. The organization also promotes more fuel-efficient stoves and the use of mesquite, an invasive plant that has been expanding in Somaliland over the past 20 years.
While using kerosene to cook would cost the average household some $14.30 a month, only about 5 percent of the population uses this fuel because it is not well known and supplies have been unreliable in the past.
Liquefied petroleum gas is another option, but one 11kg cylinder requires a $45 deposit, with each refill costing around $20 and lasting the average household about 20 days. Another deterrent is the widespread belief that the cylinders tend to explode.
Electrical energy is also beyond the reach of most households, with each kilowatt/hour costing about $1, one of the highest rates in the world.
However, for major shifts to take effect and for the high charcoal prices to push people toward alternatives, solutions cannot come from communities and the business sector alone, according to Candlelight executive director, Ahmad Ibrahim Awale.
“Viable solutions can work but they lack necessary support, promotion and social marketing from development agencies,” he said.
“The link between deforestation and recurring droughts should also be clearly highlighted. A political will and commitment from the government to support the process through enactment of conducive polices, tax exemption from all alternative energies, will also play a pivotal role facilitating such shift.”
Mohamed Hashi Elmi, Somaliland’s Minister of Finance, says such steps are being taken. "Somaliland government is encouraging everything to stop charcoal use and environmental degradation in the country. We have already made 100 percent tax cuts on imported LPG equipment and we will do the same for gas stove importers,” he said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92134

MALNUTRITION: Water shortage hits Somaliland

  Photo: Mohamed Gaarane/IRIN: Parts of Somaliland are facing water shortage (file photo)

HARGEISA, 22 December 2010 (IRIN) - Residents in parts of Somalia's northeastern self-declared republic of Somaliland are facing severe water shortages after poor October to December Deyr rains.
"In the eastern regions of Somaliland, such as Sool, Sanag and Togdheer, the people are already facing livelihood difficulties, as well as water shortages, because all the barkads [water pans] have run out of water," said Mohamed Muse Awale, director of Somaliland's National Disaster Committee.
Worst-affected areas include the Hawds of Togdheer and Buhotle, the Sool plateau and the Nugal valley, added Awale. In some parts, residents are relying on water brought in by truck.
"The nearest place to get water is Damal Hagare [160km northeast] in Sanag region and the prices have increased from US$8 to $15 [for 200 litres]," Said Mohamoud Abdi Mohamoud, from the Hudun District in Sool, told IRIN.
According to a Famine Early Warning Systems Network report, poor rainfall in December is likely to "further stress water resources and negatively impact [on] crop and rangeland conditions in the Greater Horn of Africa".
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=91435