HUNGER IN THE DESERT (This article first appeared in the GSDM October 15, 2011 edition)

The fate of the toddler girl is until today still unknown. The image of the emaciated unclothed crawling girl is still fresh in many people’s minds .With her knees bended, elbows firmly placed on the ground; hands clutching the barren land and her head sunken in despair below the scorching sun the picture stunned the world. Just a few meters from the struggling girl stood a lurking vulture ready to pounce. Whether she reached her destination a feeding center reported to be kilometers away seemed more unlikely. That was in 1993 and the country was Sudan fast forward and almost two decades later Somalia is grappling with worst famine in 60 years .A scenario that prompted the United Nation’s hierarchy to term it as world’s worst humanitarian crisis; a fitting description.

The signs were already bad early in the beginning of the year. The rains had failed and harvest was poor soon after that the pastoralists started losing their livestock in numbers and so did the migration begin. Slowly the desperate Somalis started fleeing to seek refuge in the neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. It is during the June and July period that the international media’s coverage of the sheer extent of the unfolding calamity that the world’s attention was captured.

First it was the southwards trickle towards Dadaab a refugee camp in Kenya near the vast and porous Somalia-Kenya border. Stories of women and children who had trekked hundreds of miles for weeks along the way burying their dead was intensely disturbing. Most carried nothing with them and cared less, save for their lives as survival was of immediate importance. What their dusty feet ,tattered clothes ,tired eyes ,crinkled skins and thin bodies revealed was a testament of what they had been through; physically at least.

Officials at the Dadaab refugee camp and aid agency groups on the Kenyan side of the border were overwhelmed by the numbers of arrivals reporting to the camp. Dadaab the officials claimed was under- facilitated and under-serviced and thus it was not ready for the influx. By end of July UNHCR reported that 70,000 Somalis had reported to the camp. This is a camp that was established in 1991 after the break of Somalia’s civil war. It could only cater for about 90,000 people but today it accommodates over 360,000 with the number growing each day. In all a whooping half a million are reported to have fled since the beginning of the year, six regions inside Somalia have been declared famine stricken while 12 million people across all age groups are affected in the horn of Africa region. Inside Somalia the situation is grim, it is estimated that 4 million people are in danger of starvation. According to the UN’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit FSNAU tens of thousands have died many of them children.


Somalia has had its fair share of struggles in the past. Civil strife, terrorism and maritime piracy are just some of the problems. Most parts of  Somalia are largely controlled by Islamist affiliated groups; in 2010 a ban was imposed on foreign aid agencies operating in the area .Accusation against the aid groups for alleged un-Islamic practices had led to the ban. The World Food Program (WFP) had before other aid groups been banned for allegedly distributing relief food past before their due date. Plea from aid agencies and severity of the famine situation led to the ban being ‘lifted’ in the middle of this year but still aid flow to the people affected has not been smooth. The Islamists maintain that the extent and severity of the famine situation is an exaggeration by the west.

Getting aid reach people in these areas has been the most challenging task as coordination has to take place in  Kenya and Ethiopia. For aid groups this is a nightmare as it is hard to reach the affected people.

Response to the calamity has been slow and measured as the UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell observed on his visit to Somaliland. He said response by many European and developed countries to the crisis in the Horn of Africa had been "derisory and dangerously inadequate”. Millions of dollars inform of aid has already been channeled towards helping those in need but the UN warns that a further 1.4 billion dollars is needed.

This is probably the most challenging time for Somalia and maybe a chance for its people to reflect and rediscover the spirit of nationhood that defined its past moderate values and freedom. Problems like famine are not just helped by aid and donations; they are cyclic in nature and sooner or later they strike again.

Famine is not a synonym for drought

Last week numerous relief agencies operating in the area observed that famine exists in two regions of southern Somalia:southern Bakool and Lower Shebelle.They further warned that more regions were to succumb to famine in coming days.On the contrary the Islamist in control dismissed relief agencies observation as not true.

Drought is caused by shortage of water thus a climatic condition.If not prepared for or planned against leads to failure of harvest hence food shortage.

Famine is shortage of food.It is caused by decline in availability of food or reduction in people's access to it.In recent times it has come to be understood that famine can occur where overall food availability has not declined.It is in most cases human induced and actions of man have caused severe famines in history.

Access to Somalia is not an easy task.Relief agencies fear for their members lives and their is access is subject to vetting from the Islamist groups controlling most parts of southern Somalia.

Revisiting the Nomad Boy classic 1960

This classic documentary done in association with the UNICEF set in Somalia in the 1960 is about a young nomad who together with his father make a long trip to the city to get a glimpse of a school the boy had heard so much about.For the boy it is a dream come true.I hope you enjoy it!

A great relief

This comes as a great relief that the Kenyan government has accepted to open a new refugee camp along the Kenya-Somali camp, the IFO II camp in Dadaab.I personally thank prime minister Odinga for leading the initiative,he truely has refugees plight in his heart.

This grand opening comes after  worst drought to hit Somalia in years leading to infllux of thousands of refugees across the border to Kenya.Two years the Kenyan government stopped working on the camp citing insecurity as the main factor.Some circles within Kenyas political set up feared the opening would encourage more refugees to enter Kenya.

Around 80,000 refugees are expected in the new camp  a move that has been praised by UNHCR and other relief agenices in the area moreso after the recent break of drought.Concerns over Dadaab being over populated,under facilated or under serviced can now be put to bed.It is my wish that the camp runs smoothly  and refugees right are respected.Also,it is my belief that chlidren concerns within enclaves of the camp should be top of the agenda.

Pictures worth thousands of words

Road to Dadaab

The head of U.N.refugee has termed is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at the moment.The worst drought to hit most part of Somalia in 60 years has led to an unimaginable mass exodus of people from Somalia to neighboring Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp.Tens of thousands of Somalis have already entered Kenya a figure estimated to be around 1,300 Somalis arriving  at the complex on a daily basis.

Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya was set up in 1991 to cope with the influx of Somalis fleeing their country after the break of civil war.The camp was initially equipped to cater for needs of around 40,000 to 60,000 people but today its population is estimated to be around 360,000 people a situation which is beyond control of relief agencies and other  humanitarianism organizations.

According to a report by World Food Programme 10 million Somalis are in danger of hunger of which 2 million are children.Some children have been travelling by foot for more than two weeks from Somalia to reach Dadaab in Kenya.Many as a result of hunger and fatigue have died before reaching their destination.Save the Children charity reported that more children have died in Dadaab in the first four months of this  year alone  compared to the whole of last year.

Time is of the essence, let us join our hands in helping our suffering brothers and sisters in Somalia.Let us  forge unity and put aside our differences in the spirit of humanity and help them when they need us most.