News from the NOS••Modified
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Elles van Gelder
correspondent Africa
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Elles van Gelder
correspondent Africa
Nowhere in Somalia is hunger greater than in the region around the city of Baidoa. It is in a place where it has not been as dry as it is now for forty years. Furthermore, Baidoa is located in an area controlled by the jihadists of the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. Drought and insecurity have dire consequences.
Drought, they know in Somalia. The population is tough. Drought comes and goes. People accumulate a buffer and return to the top after the dry spell. But now the periods of drought follow one another. It hasn’t rained in two years. This means four lost rainy seasons.
It is a catastrophe for a country where most of the population lives from agriculture and above all from livestock. Millions of goats, sheep and cows died because they could no longer find grass and water. More than a million people have fled the drought. Almost a quarter of them settled in Baidoa. Nomads who arrive without cattle, but with hungry children, looking for help.
Africa correspondent Elles van Gelder and cameraman Sven Torfinn traveled to Baidoa. They visited a center where the most malnourished children are helped:
As hunger grips the city of Baidoa: ‘This child weighs 5.1 kilos’
Adey, 40, sits in her hut, made of branches and sheets. “I was one of the last in my village to leave,” she says. “There’s nothing left in the country. At least there’s a clinic here.” Beside her are her children, malnourished and sick with measles. Her daughter Eunice, aged five, died soon after their arrival in Baidoa.
A little further on a similar story, of a mother who fled in serious condition. Baby Mustafa was born in the Baidoa camp. But because she herself is malnourished, she has been unable to breastfeed. “He died last night,” Dahabo Mukhtar says softly. “We fled from hunger, but hunger followed us here.”
According to UNICEF, up to and including July, more than 700 children have died in so-called stabilization centers, clinics where medical staff try to rescue severely malnourished children. But Adey and Dahabo’s children haven’t even made it to the clinic. Many children die on the run or their parents are unable to reach places like Baidoa. There is no information on the situation in many villages, so the death toll will be many times higher.
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Elles van Gelder
A child is being helped in a stabilization center -
Elles van Gelder
Families are waiting for help at the entrance to a stabilization center
Somalia is a vulnerable country where problems are piling up: insecurity and drought are a disastrous combination. The fact that part of the country is in the hands of Al-Shabaab terrorists means that humanitarian aid cannot reach all places in Somalia.
In addition, the country is also facing deforestation, overgrazing and rising food prices.
Imminent famine
For months, humanitarian agencies and the United Nations have been warning of an impending famine due to the ongoing drought. Aid money is slowly gaining momentum, partly due to “competitive” crises like the war in Ukraine.
They are now in a slightly better financial position until the end of the year, says Laura Turner of the World Food Program, responsible for much of the emergency aid. But they have to prioritize and therefore their warehouse is mostly full of food for malnourished children.
Between August this year and July next year, WFP estimates that 513,000 children will be severely malnourished. “But at some point this runs out,” he says of the boxes being loaded onto a helicopter. And the longer it takes, the more we need it. “
Drought and conflict
The fear of a prolonged crisis and increased infant mortality is great. Because even the fifth rainy season seems to be absent. “Many refugees will remain here,” said Nasir Abdi Arush, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs in Baidoa. He has seen his city of him grow exponentially. Emergency help is needed, but he also fears the future.
“Climate change and Al-Shabaab threaten the traditional life of our farmers. We need to consider new livelihoods and how to tackle climate change in the long term.”
Somalia faces two evils: drought and conflict. Meanwhile, the new government, which has been in power since May, seems primarily focused on ending the terror. They launched an offensive against Al-Shabaab. According to local minister Arush, they have no choice but to focus on security first. “We are not a rich country. Security is our priority, only then can we reach our people with aid. We must stabilize our country and create a climate in which humanitarian organizations can do their work.”
