OCHA Situation Report
Somaliland
Report for October - December 2006
9 January 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

I. HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

Above normal Deyr (Oct-Nov) rains were reported in most parts of the 
country resulting in improved livelihoods of the rural communities 
through increased availability of water and pasture. Improved livestock 
conditions combined with Haj 1season led to improved livestock prices, 
which in turn is enhancing purchasing power. Milk availability was 
reportedly high in most parts of the country, which is supposed to have 
positive impact on nutrition of children. Nevertheless, without having 
enough good seasons in the recent past in order to recover from the 
effects of the previous droughts that reduced the assets of the 
community particularly livestock for pastoral groups, chronic food 
insecurity prevails in many pastoral livelihoods (e.g. eastern regions 
like Sool, Sanaag, and Togdheer). An intervention addressing the root 
causes of food insecurity, improving the stability and resilience of the 
livelihoods and reducing risk of future vulnerabilities will be 
important for such communities. On the other hand, torrential rains 
caused emergency condition for many households in different parts of the 
country like Burao town and Odweine district of Togdheer region, 
Garadag, El-Afweine and Dararweine areas of Sanaag region, Sheik 
district of Sahil Region and Zeila and Tokoshi of Awdal region. 
Emergency assistance was delivered to such households in various areas 
(details of the response are covered under the title "Coordination on 
flood response").

Apart from causing human death (about 15 death cases most of them in 
Sanaag region were reported), floods blocked roads impeding 
accessibility to the neighborhoods and markets, which, in turn, 
negatively affects food supplies. In addition, floods led to livestock 
death (e.g. 10,95 shoats were reportedly killed by rains in Sanaag 
region alone), destruction of farm yields and other agricultural assets 
(e.g. destruction of 112 farms and 1500 meters of irrigation canal, 12 
water pumps, etc. were destroyed in Sheik district alone), and damages 
of water sources (e.g. Birkeds, Boreholes). Furthermore, destruction of 
infrastructure including the sanitation facilities was enormous in Burao 
town leading to high risk of disease outbreaks. Rehabilitation of the 
damaged public infrastructure (schools, MCHs, Hospitals, Sanitation 
Facilities, etc), restoring/rehabilitating productive farms and 
restocking of the pastoral households that lost their livestock can be 
among appropriate responses after the rains. A Nutrition assessment in 
Burao town and other flood-affected areas was recommended to evaluate 
the impact of the floods in order to guide timely food security 
interventions.

Nutrition Cluster (UNICEF, WHO, WFP, FAO/FSAU, SRCS and Ministry of 
Health) conducted a nutrition survey (using 30x30, WT/HT, and MUAC for 
6-59 months old) in Hawd livelihood (South of Hargeisa) with population 
of 33850 (WHO 2005) from 15th to 19th November. This nutrition 
assessment revealed a Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) of 8.1% (some 
improvement compared to 8.8% in 2002) while Severe Acute Malnutrition is 
1.9% which is in alert situation and no Odoema case was reported 
according to preliminary findings presented by FSAU and UNICEF on 
29/11/06. The survey covered 945 children (6-59 months old) from 475 
households from 30 different villages. Considerable correlation of 
malnutrition with ART (17.1%) and diarrhea diseases (15.8%) was 
reported. Immunization coverage was 97.6% and 34.5% for Polio and 
Measles respectively while the vitamin A supplementation coverage was 
about 36.2% in the surveyed areas.

The FSAU led Post Deyr '06/'07 Food Security Assessment commenced in 
Somaliland on 13th December with 2 teams consisting of five government 
line ministries, WFP, VETAID, GAA, and PENHA, to evaluate the 
performance of Deyr rains and the situations of the pastoral livelihoods 
in the country. According to FSAU field staff, the situation seems to be 
above normal for areas visited with improved pastoral livelihoods. The 
analysis of data is going on and the preliminary results are expected in 
early January 2007.

FAO/FSAU-led Post Gu/Karan 06 crop harvest assessment was conducted in 
Somaliland from 21st Nov. to 5th Dec 2006 with the participation of FEWS 
NET, MoA, and ADO. Covering only agro-pastoral livelihood zones of the 
country - mainly Hargeisa, Awdal and Togdheer regions (e.g. Gabiley, 
Hargeisa, Borama, Baki, Dila, Odweine, Burao and Sheik districts), the 
objective of the assessment was to determine the overall performance of 
the Gu/Karan 2006 season in terms of cereal crop harvest estimate in 
Somaliland. According to the report, the area under cultivation for this 
year was estimated at 35,040ha - 85% and 15% for sorghum and maize 
respectively. Gabiley district of Hargeisa region is the major area 
(72%) for cultivation followed by combined Borama and Baki districts of 
Awdal region (18%). Due to normal and above normal Gu/Karan rains in 
most agro-pastoral areas of Somaliland (mainly Awdal and Hargeisa 
region), the total cereal harvest in this year was estimated at 
25020.4MT, which is 147% of the Post War Average (PWA: 1998 - 2005, 
17,024MT) and the third highest in almost a decade after 2003 and 2005.

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