OCHA Situation Report No. 9
Somalia
19 April - 5 May 2006


Update

As a result of rainfall in southern Somalia at the end of April and the 
first week of May the risk of moderate famine in this region is over and 
a worse case scenario has been averted.  The rains have contributed to 
alleviating the current water crisis as well as helping in the start of 
the recovery of rangelands.  It has also been noted that the resilience 
of the Somali population and the humanitarian response by the 
international community has helped to avoid a major catastrophe.

As the Gu rain season draws to a close, FSAU plans to release a 
statement at the end of May on the impact of the Gu season on Food 
Security/Livelihoods.

Areas of Northeast and Central Somalia Lack Rainfall : These areas 
require careful monitoring since these regions only started to recover 
from a four-year drought period towards the end of last year (the 
drought peaked in April 2004). In the past week there have been reports 
of rain but it is too early to know whether it has been sufficient or 
not.

Torrential rainfall at the beginning of May in southern Somalia has 
seriously affected humanitarian operations and access, not only the 
delivery of food : Organizations in Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba, Middle 
Shabelle and Hiran are having great difficulty reaching outlying areas. 
The lack of access poses serious security concerns as many organisations 
now have to rely on air support for evacuation purposes.

The heavy rain has caused localized flooding in Buaale, Jilib and Jamame 
and caused some damage to households in Jalalaqsi (Hiran), Jowhar 
(Middle Shabelle) and Burao (Togdheer). If the torrential rain continues 
(and in particular in the Ethiopian highlands) the Juba and Shabelle 
river levels could rapidly rise causing flooding in the riverine areas 
of southern Somalia. Currently, however, river levels remain 2-3 metres 
below 'bank full'. Inter-agency flood meetings were held in Jowhar on 30 
April and 3 May to discuss contingency flood plans. It was expressed 
there is a need for practical assistance such as bulldozers and sandbags 
to reinforce riverbanks as well as for more advocacy at a local level on 
flood preparedness.

While access, insecurity, low operational capacity, delayed funding and 
now heavy rainfall have proved challenges to meeting the humanitarian 
needs - particularly in south and central Somalia - there have been some 
recent positive developments. These include Horn Relief/Oxfam starting 
cash for work project in Gedo and Lower Juba and Save The Children 
looking to implement a project in Sakow, where there has been no 
international NGO presence for the past 10 years. The German NGO, 
Humedica, is currently assessing needs in Gedo where they plan to begin 
a health programme shortly. While Christian Aid is making plans to 
extend their coverage into Gedo and Middle or Lower Juba.

Mogadishu remains tense after a series of clashes between the Union of 
Islamic Courts and the Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism 
Alliance. Cases of assassinations, roadblocks, militia clashes, mobile 
robbery and kidnapping are on the increase in the city. The protection 
cluster is leading contingency plans for the humanitarian response if 
the current crisis breaks out into serious conflict affecting the city's 
citizens. Meanwhile reports from the city also indicate that civil 
society in Mogadishu has mobilized to advocate amongst the warring 
factions to end the fighting as this is not what the civilians of 
Mogadishu want.

Protection

The cluster continues to work on population tracking and protection 
monitoring. The cluster reports that since the rains began - displaced 
pastoralists in southern Somalia are moving back to their rural areas. 
In Mogadishu there have also been intra-city population movements 
occurring (away from areas where the two rival groups are expected to 
clash) while those who can move out of the city appear to be making 
preparations for departure. A plan is being drawn up to advocate to 
Mogadishu's authorities and leaders on humanitarian principles and 
protection (during conflict) especially for the rights of the most 
vulnerable populations living in the city. Meanwhile, workshops for 
local partners on Protection have taken place in Garowe, Merka and 
Hargeisa. The main challenges within the cluster have been obtaining a 
regular information flow from Somalia into Nairobi and in Mogadishu, 
providing a framework of support to local partners once protection needs 
have been identified.

Food

Food aid is delivered by WFP in partnership with CARE, complimented by 
ICRC. In their first round of distributions WFP reached around 85% of 
their planned target of 1 million people. WFP's second round of 
emergency food distribution has now been finalized and will begin 
shortly.  Cluster food assistance is projected up to the end of July, 
beyond that it will be reviewed on the basis of field assessments.

ICRC is planning to give out a one time full ration to over 7,000 
families in central Somalia (Mudug and Galgadud) and is also looking 
into the possibility of opening a pipeline from Bossaso port to serve 
this purpose in future.

The recent heavy rains in parts of the south have made the movement of 
food commodities difficult, often causing delays when roads become 
inaccessible. WFP have planned airdrop operations if locations become 
too inaccessible to reach. Field reports suggest that there are some 
issues regarding cluster food distributions but meetings have been held 
with the heads of organizations and OCHA in Nairobi to try and resolve 
them - and move forward on this on the next round of food distributions. 
Islamic NGOs have also been distributing food in some areas but since 
their distribution details are not always known, it is likely there will 
be occasional overlap.

Water and Sanitation

Partners agreed to stop water trucking activities in the drought 
affected areas of Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Juba following the onset of Gu 
rainfall. At the inter-agency coordination meeting in Wajid (30 April), 
it was also recommended that partners increase their hygiene and 
sanitation activities to prevent disease outbreaks especially now the 
rains have started. Cluster partners reported that they have started to 
remove dead carcasses found close to water sources to avoid 
contamination. The meeting also identified the need to develop a cholera 
emergency preparedness plan and develop a water quality surveillance 
system (in collaboration with WHO).  Since response activities in the 
WATSAN cluster have been planned up to December, there is a need to 
strengthen effective coordination in the field and also focus on 
developing common principles on technical standards for water trucking, 
drilling and emergency preparedness plans.

Analysis on UNICEF WATSAN Drought Response

In the water sector UNICEF estimated that approximately 40% of the most 
vulnerable populations in southern Somalia received the 5 liters of 
water, per person per day, during the current drought crisis. Their main 
constraints were poor availability of permanent water sources; 
insecurity and access problems; difficulty finding technicians with 
expertise; limited availability and capacity of local partners. At the 
same time UNICEF does not have the capacity or the mandate to take care 
of direct implementation.

Agriculture

The seed campaign is on going. All seeds are bought in Somalia and 
tested before distribution to beneficiaries. Seed lots with low 
germination rates were rejected in Baioda, causing some delays in the 
distribution in Bay and Middle Juba but the starting date has now been 
re-scheduled for 4 May.

De-stocking activities continue despite the rains since the livestock 
situation is not expected to improve immediately.

Health

The measles mass vaccination campaign and Vitamin A supplementation in 
all drought affected areas of Bay, Bakol, Lower Juba, Middle Juba and 
Gedo has been completed in 22 districts and the campaign is ongoing in 
the remaining eight. Emergency Health Kit supplies will be provided to 
Caritas-Somalia in Baidoa (Bay) to support their proposed activity of 
launching an Out-Patient Department (OPD) in a reconditioned building. 
It is hoped that the operation of the OPD will contribute to improved 
medical services in the city. Health sector partners in the drought 
affected areas continue with joint planning for the CERF funded activity 
of mobile health units. Initial information outlines that 24 districts 
within 8 regions have been highlighted for mobile health services with 
the participation of 8 NGOs. The main challenge within the health 
cluster has been efficient coordination avoiding duplication with 
working groups and the SACB.

Nutrition

While there has been a record number of beneficiaries' attending 
supplementary feeding centers in certain sites in southern Somalia, a 
tremendous amount of work still lies ahead to reach the estimated 50,000 
malnourished and vulnerable children in need of dietary assistance. By 
the first week in May the cluster estimates that only 38% had been 
reached. Some of the reasons for this are that few agencies in health 
and nutrition operate in the rural areas of Bay, Southern Gedo and Lower 
Juba and insecurity has also hampered programme implementation. 
Advocacy efforts continue to encourage intervening agencies to address 
the identified gaps, either through establishing new programmes and/or 
expansion of existing programmes. Field missions have been undertaken by 
IMC and World Vision to finalise plans for the Supplementary Feeding 
Programme in Middle Juba and Bakol. UNICEF is planning to open 18 new 
feeding sites in south/central and has stated that it needs to 
strengthen collaboration with health NGOs and WHO to provide 
comprehensive child health care in these proposed sites. Nutrition 
surveillance continues and priority for nutrition assessments is being 
given to drought-affected regions. Interagency nutrition assessments, 
led by FSAU have been completed in Bardera town (Gedo) and Buale/Sakow 
(Middle Juba).  Results will be available shortly.  Nutrition 
assessments are currently underway in Afmadow (Lower Juba) and riverine 
populations in Middle Juba. The nutrition response includes integration 
with health, nutrition education and malaria programmes.

Education

Somalia has one of the lowest school attendance rates in the world. It 
is of great concern that in the drought affected regions of Bay, Bakol, 
Middle and Lower Juba the recent UNICEF school attendance survey 
reported that an estimated 40% of the schools had closed since September 
2005 and those schools, which were still functioning, had an estimated 
drop out rate of 42%. The drop out situation had equally affected both 
boys and girls. Cluster initiatives to provide assistance in the 
education sector include school feeding, teacher incentives, provision 
of school tents and educational materials. The main challenge now is to 
streamline operational procedures for developing partnerships between 
UNICEF and NGOs in order to implement the education response plan 
allowing more children to access learning facilities.

Logistics

A website dedicated to logistics issues/information on Somalia and other 
countries in the Horn of Africa can be found at 
www.logisticscluster.org. The website is very active and has all the 
latest information and analysis related to logistics - as well as 
listing the cluster meeting minutes.

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