SOMALIA: Emergency assistance needed in the Nugal Valley

NAIROBI, 16 February 2004 (IRIN) - About 6,200 people living in the lower Nugal Valley of northeastern Somalia are in need of immediate emergency assistance, the monthly food security assessment report for January, produced by the UN Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU), said. It said the lower Nugal valley, which includes the areas of Huddun, Taleh and Garowe, was "of greatest concern, as households had suffered extensive livestock losses due to successive rainfall failures. The [area] is in need of quick and effective emergency assistance to preserve livelihoods for approximately 20-25 percent of the original population." The assessment found that parts of the lower Nugal valley, the Hawd of Garowe and Eyl, the Hawd of Burtinle, the eastern half of the Hawd of Las Anod and the western part of the Addun in Jerriban, had been hit by current rainfall failure. As a result, there had been extensive livestock movement to other areas like the eastern Sool plateau in Bari Region. "Food shortages have increased for poorer households, and recent reports from the field indicate water prices are continuing to rise in parts of Addun and Hawd of Burtinle and Jerriban," the report said. The FSAU, which in December collaborated with the UN Children's Fund and World Health Organisation to conduct a rapid nutritional assessment in Taleh District, said it had found an acute malnutrition rate of 27 percent and a severe acute malnutrition rate of 5.8 percent among randomly screened under-five children. The report also said the Sool plateau in the north and central region, was in an emergency situation. "While coordinated interventions to distressed households by Somali NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies are under way, insecurity in the area disrupted some of the deliveries in January," it said. "In Togdheer, no rain fell in the Hawd pastoral zone during January, although it is estimated that 60-70 percent of pastoralists had already moved out of the drought-stricken area into Ethiopia's Region V [Somali National Regional State]. However, poorer households, which could not leave the area, remain extremely food insecure and require close monitoring," it said. Crop production during the October-December rains in southern Somalia, it noted, was approximately 50 percent of the estimated quantify for sorghum and 50 percent for maize. "This estimate is 48 percent above the postwar average... Insecurity, moisture stress, outbreak of birds, insects and pests may affect the final harvest production figure," it said. It said compared to the long-term average, the October-December rains had been below normal in most parts of northern and central Somalia. "In particular, rains were extremely poor in Hawd, Sool Plateau and Nugal valley in the north, and Galgadud in the central regions [resulting] in a deterioration of the food security situation for some pastoral populations in the north and central regions, where livelihoods are primarily dependent on livestock and livestock production." The FSAU report, entitled "Rapid Mission to Investigate the Drought in Parts of North Eastern and Central Somalia" is available at: www.reliefweb.int