Day: December 7, 2022

The Desert Locust situation continued to remain calm during November. A small outbreak developed in early November where hoppers, groups, and bands were seen in an area of about 100 km by 70 km in northwestern Mauritania. Ground teams treated 2 298 ha. In Sudan, low numbers of adults were first seen in the winter breeding areas this year along the Red Sea coast where a few copulating had started. Isolated adults were else seen in coastal areas of Eritrea, southeast Egypt, and northwest Somalia. In Yemen, low numbers of adults have been on the coast since September. In the Western Region, the summer breeding area has finished. During the forecast, December and January may have slightly above-normal rainfall in the northern parts of the Red Sea coast in northern Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan while southern areas from Eritrea, southern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and northern Somalia will be drier than normal. As a result, a single generation of small-scale breeding is likely during the winter area. In northwest Mauritania, groups of adults are likely to form in December but should decrease due to control, vegetation that dries out, and rain which is not likely to occur. No significant development is likely.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) commenced a three-day meeting to promote exchanges and foster collaboration between various national level actors working in the area of forced displacement and host communities in Somalia.

Participants for the workshop drawn from key government line ministries, departments and agencies, humanitarian and development actors, the private sector, and forcibly displaced persons.

In his opening remarks at this Somalia National Dialogue on Forced Displacement, the Prime Minister of Somalia, H.E. Mr. Hamza Abdi Barre, underlined that almost three million Somalis have been forced to flee their homes and their communities due to multiple factors including droughts, poor security. “This is indeed a saddening reality that we must address as a nation”, he said.

Prime Minister Hamza emphasised that many children were born in displacement with poor or no access to Education while missing out on their basic rights such as protection because of displacement.

The Minister of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation of the Federal Government of Somalia, Mr Ahmed Mo’alem Fiqi on his part, reaffirmed that the Ministry of Interior is in charge of providing guidance and leadership, establishing policies and laws, coordinating issues in regard to assistance to refugees and displaced persons.

“We are committed as a government to finding a long-term and comprehensive solution for the IDPs while protecting their rights as citizens”, he noted.

Acknowledging the significant progresses made by the Government of Somalia in developing frameworks to address the root causes of displacement and barriers to solutions, Mr. Jacob Apollo, Protection Officer at IGAD, cited “this workshop seeks to strengthen collaboration, coordination and broaden partnerships to the government-led initiatives.”

Mr. Jacob Apollo added: “We are all in agreement that this is a timely initiative given the continued challenges resulting from forced displacement in Somalia and the pressing need to find sustainable solutions for the affected communities in the face of dwindling resources”.

Somalia Federal Ministries’ of Health, Education, Climate Change, Energy and Water as well as representatives of the Civil Society expressed their commitment to working with the Ministry of Interior Federal Affairs and Reconciliation’s National Commission of Refugees and IDPS on finding durable solutions for Somalia’s refugees and IDPs. Representatives of UNHCR and IOM also gave their remarks in a video message.

The World Bank, the European Union and the Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency financially supported this activity.

Background

The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) stock population was estimated at 2,967,500 people as of October 2022. The IGAD region hosted 592,243 registered Somali refugees and asylum seekers, while Yemen hosted 69,900. Finding sustainable solutions for the longstanding challenge of displacement and ending the exclusion of affected persons is critical to Somalia’s peace and development trajectory.

The Heads of State and Government of IGAD Member States adopted the Nairobi Declaration, and its accompanying Plan of Action in March 2017, which proposed a comprehensive regional approach to deliver durable solutions for the more than 900,000 Somali refugees as well as over a million IDPs within Somalia. The Declaration equally proposed to create an enabling environment for their re-integration when they return home.

Source: Intergovernmental Authority for Development

Somalia is experiencing worsening drought following four consecutive seasons of failed rainy season. According to the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS NEST), Somalia received suboptimal amount of dyer rains than expected since October 2021. Currently, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimates that the number of people affected by extreme drought has risen from 4.9 million in March to 7.8 million in September, with 1 million displaced from their homes in search of water, food, and pasture.

Some 6.8 million people – 45 per cent of the population – are acutely food insecure. For the first time since 2017, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has confirmed pockets of catastrophic food insecurity (Phase 5) affecting more than 300,000 people.2 An estimated 1.8 million children under age 5 face acute malnutrition, including 515 550 who are severely malnourished.3 The current situation including the displacement have led to more people being vulnerable to epidemic prone diseases, particularly acute diarrheal disease, and measles.

The Federal Ministry of Health and WHO monitor the trends of epidemic-prone diseases in drought affected districts using data from the electronic-based EWARN, fever and rash surveillance system and community health workers deployed in drought affected districts. With support from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and in collaboration with state ministries of health, WHO is implementing activities aimed at preventing disease outbreaks, including the timely detection and response to alerts of epidemic-prone diseases reported among vulnerable communities in drought affected districts. To control cholera outbreak, one million people have received at least one dose of oral cholera vaccine in nine drought affected districts, cases are receiving treatment in nine cholera treatment facilities and 15 oral rehydration points supported by WHO. WHO and partners have scaled up the implementation of drought response activities in 29 drought affected districts in collaboration with UN agencies targeting hard to reach communities.

Source: World Health Organization