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SOMALIA:
Food security hinges on rainy season
UN agencies
working in Somalia have also warned of a looming crisis, especially
if the upcoming 'Gu' rains fail - the chance of which meteorologists
have set at fifty percent.
"An estimated
650,000 people throughout the country are experiencing severe
food and water shortages," the latest emergency report from
WFP stated.
The situation
is reported to be of greatest concern in the southern regions
of Bay, Bakol (where a UNICEF nutrition survey in Rabdure
indicated a global malnutrition rate of 30 percent), Gedo
and Hiran, where an estimated 425,000 are struggling to meet
daily food needs.
Hundreds
of families have already migrated from Gedo and Bakool to
Baidoa, Mogadishu and as far north as Bossaso in search of
food, water and work. Hunting and the collection of bush products
have increased, water tables are well below normal and are
being overused, the report stated.
Another
200,000 people in the northeast and northwest are facing food
and water shortages, the majority of this number in the Haud
region - where Toghdeer and Sool are badly affected, WFP said.
Pockets
of high and extreme food insecurity have also been identified
in the Burdhubo district of Gedo Region, with immediate assistance
required in Dolo, Luuq and Belet Hawa, it added.
"The
bottom line is, if the rains fail we will be dealing with
a major catastrophe in Somalia," OCHA quoted WFP Representative
Kevin Farrell as saying.
SOMALIA:
Bay cholera outbreak under control
A cholera
outbreak that claimed 23 lives in Dodale and neighbouring
villages in Burhakaba district, in the south-central Bay region,
during the two-week period from 4 to 17 March had been brought
under control by early this week, a UNICEF official told IRIN
on Thursday.
There
were 113 cases reported around Dodale in that two-week spell,
with samples analysed in Nairobi testing positively for cholera.
The case fatality rate (CFR) was 20.4 percent.
Cholera
supplies, chlorine and health education information had been
provided by WHO and UNICEF, the official added.
SOMALIA:
Djibouti conference preparations continue Djibouti
President
Ismail Omar Guelleh has held talks with Arab League officials
in Egypt and secured its support and assistance for his peace
initiative for Somalia, Somali news organisations reported
on Wednesday.
Meanwhile,
a committee of Somali intellectuals which met in Djibouti
to work on proposals for the planned Djibouti peace conference
on Somalia has asked the Djibouti government to delay the
conference, which is set to begin on 20 April.
The Somali
group is due to hold talks with a Djibouti government commission
charged with restoring peace in Somalia to address its request
for a delay in the conference.
The intellectuals
recommended that factions, regional governments in Somalia
and civil society organisations should all be represented,
and that the selection of delegates should be proportional
to the regions and clans they represent.
A high-level
Djibouti delegation was due to travel to Somalia in the weeks
before the peace conference to brief the Somali people on
what the Djibouti peace initiative is all about, Somali news
organisations reported this week, citing Djibouti Foreign
Minister Ali Abdi Farah.
The delegation
would first visit Mogadishu, but may face problems visiting
Somaliland and Puntland, neither of which is backing the Djibouti
initiative, they added.
Meanwhile,
tension is reported to be high in Bosasso, capital of the
self-declared state of Puntland in the northeast, after the
police killed two men in recent demonstrations in favour of
the Djibouti peace conference.
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