Photo: Mogadishu, Somalia. (Credit: Stuart Price/UN)
Harun Nasrullah
A devastating drought in Somalia has reached unprecedented levels, leaving one million people within the country currently registered as displaced, announced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on August 11.
More than 755,000 people have been internally displaced in Somalia because of the severe dry spell this year, bringing the total figure to one million since January, when the drought began, according to new figures released by UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
The NRC’s Director for Somalia, Mohamed Abdi, said the “one million milestone serves as a massive alarm bell for Somalia.”
Somalia is going through a two-year historic dry spell, the likes of which have not been seen in more than 40 years.
And an expected fifth failed rainy season is bound to displace many more families, as famine looms on the horizon, the UNHCR said.
The UN agency spoke with Hussein, an elderly father of eight who fled his village after drought ravaged their crops and livestock, recently arrived with his family at a camp for displaced people.
“The people left behind, they have no chance,” he said. “It is just a matter of time until they die. Even here, we might die because we have nothing”.
In the coming months, Somalia’s crisis hunger levels are expected to rise from some five million to more than seven million owing to climate change and an increase in food prices sparked by the Ukrainian conflict.
In terms of climate vulnerability, Somalia is ranked second highest globally, based on 2019 data, according to the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative ranking. “Vulnerable communities are the hardest hit by the effects of the climate crisis, leaving many families unprotected and increasing displacement,” explained UNHCR’s official in Somalia, Magatte Guisse.
During the 2022 rainy season, which ran from March to June, rainfall was lower than expected in May, and very little rain was recorded in June.
Northern areas received 30-60 per cent of average rainfall, while central and southern areas received 45-75 per cent – the fourth consecutive failed rainy season since late 2020.
In Garowe, there was abnormal drop in ground water level of seven meters between October 2021 and May 2022.
The Juba and Shabelle River levels are 30 per cent below the short-term average, with limited water available to support irrigation of crops and other uses.
The UNHCR official noted that even before this latest crisis. “The Somalia situation was already one of the most underfunded. While we and humanitarian partners are doing what we can to respond, we simply have insufficient resources,” he said. “The international community must step up to save lives and support this humanitarian response”.
UNHCR announced in June that it would need $9.5 million for Somalia as part of its regional appeal for the Horn of Africa. “Somalia’s climate emergency is a hammer blow to millions, combining years of drought with unheard of levels of human suffering and starvation,” NCR Secretary General Jan Egeland said at the end of a trip to the drought-stricken country.
“I have spoken with farmers who have lost all their livestock and crops. I have met severely malnourished children of families who fled to cities, whose parents are now forced to beg for the daily food and water they need to survive. Donors, including the neighbouring Gulf countries, need to dig deep and fast before the predictions of mass starvation become fatal figures of shame.”
About 90 per cent of Somalia’s wheat imports came from Russia and Ukraine. Since the war broke out, the grain supply has been blocked and prices have exploded. “In spite of the looming famine, Somalia has only seen 28 per cent of its humanitarian needs funded through the UN-sponsored appeal,” Egeland said.
“Somalis are on the frontline of the global climate catastrophe, but far too little of the funding promised has been received by the people hardest hit”.
