Drought raises number of people needing urgent aid in Somalia to 1.7 million

The failure of seasonal rains at the end of 2005, added to chronic civil unrest, has left some 1.7 million Somalis in need of urgent humanitarian assistance until June 2006, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

“It is the worst drought in a decade,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. He noted that the number of people in need of immediate assistance and protection has drastically increased compared to six months ago when one million people were identified as needing assistance in preparation for the 2006 Humanitarian Appeal.

“The drought compounds what was already a dire humanitarian situation, and is affecting communities in areas beset by years of high malnutrition and morbidity rates, chronic food insecurity, clan fighting, and suffering from consecutive bad harvests,” he added.

According to the recent food security and livelihood survey by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), cereal production is estimated this year to be only 50 per cent of the post-war average.

Cattle deaths in the worst affected areas are already reaching 20 to 30 per cent, and could reach 80 per cent by April. Malnutrition rates have reached over 25 per cent in some areas and are expected to get worse in the coming months.

OCHA urged the donor community to strongly support the Humanitarian Appeal for Somalia already issued in December. An increased Appeal will be considered at a later stage.