Drought Hits Northeastern Somalia
Mar 20, 2010
Story Highlights
Children and livestock die without proper food or water
No response from aid agencies
Villages in northeastern Somalia are in the grip of a drought as farmers and herders lose their animals with few rain storms to cool down some Somali regions, elders said.
"We are facing lack of water and our livestock have mostly died," Mohamed Isaq, elder in the Ufeyl village in the Bari region told Tiziano by phone. "The residents of three villages in the region are facing the worst of it, many of our children died for lack of food and water."
Many families who lost their livestock fled to urban areas hoping for a better life, but don't manage to save enough money to buy more animals.
Ufeyl village has not had rainfall for more than a year. Its pastoralists have watched their livestock dying by the hundreds, according to Sheikh Abdullahi Hassan, a holy Quran teacher in the village.
Elders say at least five children died from lack of water and food in the last month.
No aid agencies are currently operating in the region.
"We urge all Somalis, aid agencies and traders to help us to get news of this disaster out," Isaq said after his grandson died.
Somalia has been without government since 1991 after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power by clan militias.
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Tags:
Africa, Drought, Somali draought deaths, Somali hunger, Somali people, Somalia
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