The UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs: Drought will catch a disaster in Somalia

The Horn of Africa has witnessed drought, which is the most severe of its kind since 1981, causing an estimated 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to severe hunger during the first quarter of this year, but Somalia remains the most affected in view of what the afflicted country suffers from several crises.All of them were intertwined together against millions of Somalis who either take asylum camps as analgesic or were cut off under the weight of hunger, thirst and political turmoil, not to mention the pandemic of the Corona virus (Kovid-19), to result in a complex challenge to international relief efforts.

In an interview with "The Independent Arab" through the "Zoom" application, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia, Adam Abdel -Mawla, spoke about the worsening humanitarian situation there amid her demand for a fourth season of drought, calling on international donors to quickly meet their pledges, as there is a need for 1.5 billion A dollar in the framework of humanitarian relief efforts this year. During the meeting, the UN official highlighted a number of numbers and statistics that reflect the seriousness of the humanitarian situation in the country, indicating that while climate change continues to cause drought and frequent floods that lead to widespread displacement with urban expansion, hunger, malnutrition and increased poverty, he is currently suffering About 4.3 million people are bad human conditions. According to the financial sources currently available, they are barely able to provide assistance to only 590,000 people.

While climate change was a main factor in the drought sweeping the Horn of Africa, the availability of other conditions, the most important of which are armed conflicts and internal political tensions, made the phenomenon of climate change more painful to Mogadishu than its neighbors.Over the past 20 years, Somalia has witnessed droughts followed by flooding waves, causing mass displacement to more than a quarter of the population, where about 2.9 million people reside in the camps.As a result of the last drought, this number increased by 540 thousand, which means that the number of displaced people reaches 3.4 million.

Looking at the scene in Somalia from the historical perspective, Abdel -Mawla says that the geographical area with a vegetation has shrunk over the past 20 years from 64 to 18 percent, and he adds that the expectations for the current year are darker, while three chapters failed, respectively, the special indicators failedWith the rainy season from April to June, it warns with a fourth separation of dehydration, which means a sharp scarcity of food and drinking water.

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According to the UN coordinator, an estimated 4.6 million Somalis will need food aid during the year 2022 to prevent the escalation of the food crisis due to the current drought, and this includes about 1.2 million children under the age of five. They are likely to have severe malnutrition during the current year. It is expected that more than 300,000 of them will be at risk of death, yet the actual number of those who need aid of different types is 7.7 million people, which is equivalent to almost half of the population, and the lack of drinking water leads to several health problems, as it is forced. Many are to drink unclean water, and some Somalia areas have already witnessed an increase in diarrhea and cholera.

The climate change represents a very dangerous factor in the Horn of Africa. According to Abdel -Mawla, evidence indicates that during the next two decades, the temperature in Somalia will increase by three degrees Celsius, and if this prediction is true, most of the geography of Somalia will become unmanned and cannot be lived, which will lead to the position of the population In urban areas only. He pointed to the increase in the population of Al -Hadr in Somalia, to reach 46 percent compared to 18 percent before 25 years, which highlights the continuous displacement from the countryside to the city, which means the disappearance of the community pattern as a pastoral and agricultural if this pace continues without the existence Alternatives planned by governments and supportive organizations.

Since last year, Abdel -Mawla issued several warnings about the situation in Somalia and the possibilities of continued drought amid speculation of the failure of a fourth season of rain, calling for "a proactive work to avoid the disaster that was staring and became true," he said.

In this regard, the UN coordinator made several tours that included the Gulf states and European countries, in addition to visiting Kenya repeatedly, as international donors representatives are stationed in Nairobi due to the fragile security conditions in Somalia, and he launched a special humanitarian call and held consultations on the situation, and he explained that "pre -emptive work is less financial costAnd we can help more people before their condition gets worse, but no response occurred, and now we are in a real disaster if the rainy season fails as expected. "

Trump policy and aid budget

With the increasing needs throughout the Horn of Africa, immediate assistance has become necessary to avoid a major humanitarian crisis such as those witnessed in the world in 2011 when 250,000 people died of hunger in Somalia.At the beginning of this month, the World Food Program launched its regional plan to respond to drought in the Horn of Africa, appealing to obtain 327 million dollars in response to the immediate needs of 4.5 million people over the next six months, and helping societies to become more able to withstand severe climate shocks.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths is planning to visit Kenya and Somalia to continue his efforts towards calling for the financing of humanitarian relief operations in the face of drought in the Horn of Africa.

When asked about the amounts obtained by the humanitarian aid organizations since the beginning of the year, Abdel -Mawla indicated that the amounts received by all the designated organizations are very symbolic, saying, "We have yet obtained only $ 25 million from the urgent aid fund, and the Humanitarian Aid Fund had inSomalia is $ 31 million, and it allowed its distribution to organizations working in drought control, and there are some assistance that are directly directed to some programs such as the World Food Program or the World Health Organization.

He pointed to promises from the United Kingdom and Germany to provide eight million dollars from each country separately, which are pledges that await relief organizations to adhere to and translate them into financial liquidity that enables them to work.

The United States contributes to the largest part of the United Nations budget by 22 percent, in terms of more than 10 percent from Japan, which comes second among the shareholders in the international budget by 9.68 percent, however, during the administration of former President Donald Trump, Washington withdrew its contribution to financing the numberOf the United Nations organizations, the US administration voted against the $ 3.2 billion annual budget project in December 2020, and Trump has complained that other countries did not bear a sufficient share of the United Nations budget financing.

When asked the UN coordinator about the impact of Trump's policies on the weak financing of humanitarian efforts in Somalia, he said that he had already obtained promises from many decision makers in the administration of the current President Joe Biden during his visit to Washington last summer, by reviewing Trump's policy regarding the provision of humanitarian aid.He added, "We are waiting for these promises to be translated into reality, but the indicators say that the Biden administration is determined to do so."

He explained that while the United States is one of the largest donors, most of its aid to Somalia is food aid.He added that in light of the current drought challenge, the subject of food aid is secondary in exchange for the need for clean drinking water and saving the most affected people.

Sexual violations

Women and children are always the weakest link in crises and conflicts, and in this regard, the UN coordinator indicated that women are exposed to several risks, including their exposure to sexual violence during their journey to bring water to their families, as they have to go long distances. He adds, "Violations take several aspects as a result of the interlocking crises of droughts, displacement and conflict, because of the tribal wars and conflicts, women are attacked as a kind of weakening the opponent, and a very large number of families marry minors as a means of lowering the burden on the same family, as well as The financial benefit they get from marrying their daughters, and the marriage of minors is a big problem there. "

The Kofid-19 pandemic of women and families increased. In light of the procedures that accompanied the epidemic, a large number of people were able to move for long periods, in turn led to a sharp rise in family violence against women.

The international organizations provide special types of support for women, as one of the largest programs run by the United Nations Population Fund targets women and girls in Somalia, and provides assistance related to all aspects of public health and family health, and the World Food Program and other humanitarian organizations operating in Somalia targets mainly women and girls.As a special category, as there is a great focus in programs on gender issues and providing direct services to women, especially those who declare their families.

Infrastructure

قتل السبت الماضي 14 شخصاً بينهم مسؤولون سياسيون محليون في تفجير انتحاري استهدف مطعماً في مدينة بلدوين وسط الصومال تبنته "حركة الشباب الإسلامية"، وذلك في إطار سلسلة من الهجمات التي شنتها الحركة خلال الأسابيع الماضية، في وقت يستعد فيه البلد لتنظيم انتخابات أرجئت مراراً. وبسؤاله عن تأثير الاضطرابات السياسية الداخلية وسط وضع معقد ناتج من تأجيل الانتخابات منذ أكثر من عام ونصف العام، قال عبدالمولى إن اضطراب الوضع السياسي الداخلي أدى إلى حال من الشلل، بينما معظم القادة الصوماليين منهمكون في العملية السياسية، فالانتخابات تقوم على أساس قبائلي وقد استغرقت العملية زمناً طويلاً مما أدى إلى بعض الشلل في إدارة البلاد، يضاف إلى ذلك ضعف Infrastructure بسبب النزاع الذي يمتد منذ ثلاثة عقود.

He added, "Somalia suffers from a very fragile infrastructure, and there is no health services, and when a Coffe-19 epidemic spread in the country, even a single artificial respirator was not in the country until we coordinated with some donors to provide some artificial respirators, and then we discovered that there are no devices Oxygen, in a simplified phrase, there are mainly no factories to produce oxygen, and this gives a glimpse of the fragility of social services in Somalia, there are very few private hospitals but they do not compare to their counterpart anywhere in Africa, and this leaves the population vulnerable to all types of infectious and chronic diseases, as Somalia has a large number of people with special needs, and this all creates a set of interconnected problems. "

وفي حين يؤدي الجفاف الحاد إلى إهلاك البشر والماشية، فإن الصومال يجري داخله نهران طول العام، لكن الجانب المعقد، بحسب وصف المنسق الأممي، هو غياب الاستفادة من هذه المياه والقدرة على إدارة الموارد الطبيعية، لذا أعرب عبدالمولى عن آماله في استثمار جزء من أموال المساعدات الإنسانية على Infrastructure، مثل السدود وأنظمة تجميع المياه وغيرها من المشاريع الخاصة بإدارة المياه، والتي من شأنها أن تساعد في التخلص من جزء كبير من هذا العبء الذي يكلف المجتمع الدولي فوق المليار دولار سنوياً.

"Investing part of this amount can lead to a significant shift in terms of the ability to adapt to climate change and provide decent life opportunities for the population."

On the impact of the "Islamic Youth Movement" on the arrival of aid to the civilian areas, the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid affairs explained that "there are two types of regions, areas under the control of (youth) and others in which the militias affect, meaning that there are areas where they carry out some operations and therefore it is difficult to present Humanitarian aid in it regularly, and in these areas we depend on a wide network of local organizations and tribal leaders to provide aid to the needy whenever possible, but in the areas under the control of the movement, we have no present in them. He explained that the humanitarian workers are dealing with any party that has control of civilians, especially if they need humanitarian aid, but in the case of "youth" he says, "We have no title until we sit with them in order to reach the needy in the areas under their control."

"Cofide-19" vaccine

One of the grievances that were manifested during the "Kofid-19" pandemThe Corona anti -virus did not exceed six percent, until last January, 540 million vaccine doses out of nine billion doses were produced, while the citizens of rich countries got enhanced doses.

In this regard, the UN coordinator said that Somalia has so far obtained enough seven percent of the population, knowing that Somalia is expected to reach 20 million doses of the anti -Corona virus vaccine by the summer of this year, but Abdel -Mawla pointed to another challenge related to the inabilityThe country is to deal with this huge amount of vaccines, saying that "our main concern now is how we can mobilize the human resources needed to accommodate this huge amount of vaccines when it reaches the middle of the year."

Security in the land of Somalia

Somalia is divided into the states of every state that enjoys relative independence, and there is what is known as the Somaliland land of Somalland, which is a northern region overlooking the Gulf of Aden declared secession from Somalia in 1991. While the Somalia land does not have international recognition yet, but it has political stability and institutionsActing governmental and security, which contradicts parts of other countries.

In this regard, Abdel -Mawla refers to the direct relationship between security and prosperity, and says that the Somalia land has witnessed an abnormal prosperity. The capital Hargisa has doubled five or six times in just 20 years, and it has become like any modern city that has a bondage and population. He adds, "Hargisa, even with African standards, was a very small village when I visited it for the first time in 1999, and I did not believe what I saw when I visited it in 2019, as it has an international airport, two universities, large hotels, solar powered farms, and a traffic crowding in the streets, a complete city that originated from a vacuum Only 20 years, and this is an indication that the matter requires the provision of security, as the Somali people in nature love investing and trade and they are successful in it and the evidence is present and tangible, and security can achieve miracles. "