‘Drought-stricken regions report starvation deaths in Somalia’

By Mohammed Dhaysane

BAIDOA, Somalia (AA) – As the world focuses on war-induced displacement, half a million people have been forced from their homes in Somalia due to the severe drought raging in the African country.

Some families who have walked hundreds of kilometers from the worst affected areas in the Bakool region and have arrived in Baidoa, the administrative capital of southwestern state of Somalia said there have been deaths caused by hunger in the region.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ali Adan Hassan, who has lost everything from livestock to farming after three years of successive crop failures, said he had to walk over 200 kilometers (124 miles) to find a morsel of food.

He said his district Rabdhure in Bakool region has been facing a severe drought.

Sitting behind a makeshift shelter in a newly established internally displaced person’s camp on the outskirts of Baidoa, he said he lost his wife and three-year-old child due to hunger and thirst.

Abdulkadir Ali Mohamed, commissioner of refugees, said there are around 500 camps housing nearly 450,000 internally displaced people around Baidoa. He said the administration was receiving affected families every day.

"During February, we received 572 families equivalent of 3,432 persons who have fled from Diinsoor town due to drought and conflict," he said.

Daud Adan Jiran, country director of the US-based humanitarian group Mercy Corps, said the situation in Somalia is deteriorating every day.

"Most of these communities' primary source of income is livestock, which has died, crops have failed, so there is no food. Families have depleted what little reserves they had. If we don't get rain in the coming weeks Somalia may be again witnessing a repeat of the 2011 famine disaster," he said.

- Lactating mothers affected

The drought in 2011 had killed over 20,000 people, half of them children, and displaced millions of families in the Horn of African country which is now again facing the worst drought.

Jiran said that during his visit to Baidoa, he met with displaced families who had lost family members due to hunger and thirst.

“Some lactating mothers told me that they are feeding their children as young as five months old with water as they don't have enough milk to breastfeed them,” he said.

The majority of the children in these camps are sick and malnourished, and they lack access to necessities like water and sanitation, according to Jiran.

Hassan had a small farm which was enough to feed his family before the drought.

He said the government is unable to provide them assistance on their doorstep in the Bakool as terror group al-Shabaab has blocked the region over the past many years.

“Either way even if I stayed in my village, I didn’t see any future for the family. So, I decided to take the journey to Baidoa,” he said.

- From riches to rags

Keerow Adan Mohamed, 48, was a rich man in the village owning 50 camels and 71 goats. He has lost all the livestock, making him a pauper.

"After the drought started in our areas, I tried to find vegetation to feed my remaining livestock. I decided to cross the border of the Bokool region into the Bay region. When I was a few kilometers away from Baidoa in Labanjirow, an unknown disease struck and killed all my remaining livestock,” she said.

Dhigan Adan Alim, 40 year-old-mother of eight children, has left her Malayto village in the Bakool region. She along with the kids arrived in the camp 30 days ago after walking for 10 days.

Aalim said he owned a small farm and 50 goats. Just six goats are remaining and there is no grass to keep them alive. She feeds them with leftovers, mainly tea and rice.

“Now everything is gone and I have nothing to feed the family. This drought turned me into a beggar. I am at the last point of despair. We just need help," she said.