[pronut-hiv] SOMALIA: Displaced families surviving on less than one meal a day, says ICRC

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

NAIROBI, 11 March 2008 (IRIN) - Large numbers of families displaced by
violence in Somalia are surviving on less than one meal a day and
spending large proportions of their meagre income buying drinking water,
according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 

"We visited places where the displaced population had little food and
scarcely any possessions," Daniel Gagnon, an ICRC relief specialist in
Somalia said in a statement issued on 11 March. "People told us that the
shelling in [the capital] Mogadishu was so intense they had fled,
leaving even the most necessary personal items behind." 

An ICRC assessment team reported that shortages of food and water had
become life-threatening in the regions of Mudug, Galgadud, Nugaal and
Bakool, among others. 

Voicing concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in the
country, the ICRC said while the media's attention had been riveted on
other crises in Africa in recent weeks, the protracted armed conflict in
Somalia had intensified, not only in Mogadishu but in other parts of the
country. 

Severe drought

"Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced," the ICRC said.
"Their situation has been exacerbated by a chronic lack of rainfall. The
cost of living has risen so steeply that many people cannot afford to
buy food and other essential items." 

In some parts of the country, the population was entirely dependent on
animal breeding and trading. However, pastures had become barren in many
places and herders were losing animals that had become too weak to walk
the lengthening distances between fresh pastures and scarce water
points. 

Highlighting the plight of some 3,500 families who arrived two months
ago in Guriel, 300km from Mogadishu, Gagnon said: "These families are
enduring the extremities of suffering. The living conditions are
shocking. In some places, food, water, essential household items, and
sanitation facilities are scarce or non-existent." 

A severe drought had hit Mudug region, with some communities having
lost their basic means of sustaining themselves. 

"There is a severe drought in the area, which has not had adequate
rainfall for the last three years," Julian Jones, the ICRC's water and
habitat coordinator for Somalia, was quoted as saying. "The combination
of acute water scarcity and pastures beyond their reach means that
people can do little more than hope for rain." 

For a large number of the displaced living a few kilometres away from
Mogadishu, healthcare was a major concern, ICRC said. 

"In the districts of Afgoy and Dayniile, people are worried about an
increase in illnesses and disease, such as diarrhoea and malaria,"
Rodolfo Rossi, the ICRC's medical delegate for Somalia, said. "And there
is nowhere for them to go for appropriate treatment because it's too
dangerous in Mogadishu." 

The ICRC assisted the Somali Red Crescent Society in opening three
temporary clinics in Afgoy and one in Dayniile in January and February.
It said the high number of weapon-related injuries in Mogadishu remained
a source of great concern.