Category: General

Jamal Ali Abdi has seen flooding in Beledweyne before but never on the scale witnessed earlier this month when the Shabelle River burst its banks, causing devastation to the central Somali town and displacing almost the entire population.

As water gushed through the streets, Ali’s home was soon surrounded by murky brown flood water.

‘The water was up to my neck,’ said Ali, 36. ‘Our entire family, including my six children, sought refuge in a relative’s home after our house was immersed. I was barely able to get my children to safety and grab a couple of items as we fled.

‘We haven’t seen flooding on this scale in years,’ he added. ‘No one saw this level of devastation coming.’

Nearly 250 million people have been forced to leave their homes after heavy rainfall in Somalia and the Ethiopian highlands led to flash floods in Beledweyne, the capital of the Hiran region. A week on from the start of the flooding the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called for urgent funding to scale up assistance, while the Somali Disaster Management Agency distributed aid to displaced families this week.

Somalia is suffering the effects of the worst drought in four decades, a result of the climate crisis. But OCHA Southern and Eastern Africa warned that the recent precipitation will not counter the devastation caused by years of below-average rainfall.

In 2019, local people built a defensive wall on the banks of the Shabelle, which has helped prevent flooding during previous heavy rains but could not withstand the force of the water this time.

Like many members of his community, Ali fled to a relative’s home, where he is sharing a room with two other displaced families.

‘You don’t have to be here with us to know how difficult it is when you have three families sharing a single room, not knowing when you’ll return home and if the floods left anything behind,’ he said.

But the house they escaped to is also surrounded by water, raising fears that they will have to move again. ‘Everyone is scared that the water will rise,’ said Ali, speaking by phone from Beledweyne.

His fears are widely shared. Hassan Abdi fled with his wife and seven children from their home in the Bundooyinka neighbourhood of Beledweyne on the first day of the flooding. As the water began seeping under his front door, Abdi, 37, decided to take his children to an empty house owned by a friend.

‘When I left with my children, I thought the flooding would be short lived,’ he said. ‘We’ve endured many floods before. After resettling my family, I returned home to take whatever I could but it started getting close to dusk, so I made the decision to spend the night there.

‘The water level was at my toes initially, but by the time I woke up the following morning, it was knee high. That’s when I knew things would be different this time. I’ve witnessed six floods since moving here in 1997 and this is the worst.

‘My children are still very young. Sometimes I wonder if they understand that they’ve become displaced and that this empty home might become our permanent home,’ added Abdi, who is unemployed and depends on remittances from siblings in the diaspora to support his family. ‘I don’t believe there’s anything my siblings can do for my family. There are certain things that money can’t fix and a natural disaster is one of them.’

Source: Somali National News Agency

Even if Ethiopia adopted several global, regional and national initiatives that advocate for women’s property rights, lack of appropriate data has made monitoring the effectiveness of these laws and policies in promoting women’s property rights difficult, according to the Ethiopian Statistics Service.

This was pointed out in the first ever Ethiopian Gender Asset Gap Survey report released today.

The main objective of the survey was to analyze the gender gap in asset ownership and wealth, and intra household dynamics, Ethiopian Statistics Service Director General, Beker Shale, said.

According to the survey, about 84 percent of women and 86 percent of men own dwellings, which is consistent with the fact that Ethiopia is an agrarian economy.

Also, 69 percent of women and 73.1 percent of men own agricultural land, while 75.3 percent of women and 76.2 percent of men own livestock.

The largest men-women gap in asset ownership among the principal assets was observed for financial assets, which was 32 percentage points, followed by other real estate at 8 percent.

However, the share of women financial asset owners of total financial asset owners is as low as 34 percent when compared to 66 percent share of men owners, the survey indicated.

It further indicated that women’s decision-making role in family management, finance, rural and urban land and house ownership and other issues is improving.

The survey conducted last year was initiated and implemented by the Ethiopian Statistics Service with financial and technical support from UN Women, the World Bank and the Government of Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The European Union (EU) is ready to re-engage Ethiopia more strongly in supporting its rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery endeavors, Ambassador Roland Kobia said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the EU Delegation Head to Ethiopia stated that the diplomatic normalization has come after the peace accord signed in Pretoria, South Africa, to terminate the war in the northern part of the country.

“The war is now over, and congratulations to Ethiopia for having managed to overcome this very difficult moment,” he said.

According to Kobia, the longstanding relationship with Ethiopia, as one of a few countries which the EU has a strategic engagement with, had gone through difficult times following the conflict.

“Now the EU is ready to re-engage more strongly with Ethiopia in terms of supporting the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery of the country after all the destruction that has taken place during the war. And in this new period, we really want to partner with all our member states or our friends to support Ethiopia to overcome this difficult moment.”

The head pointed out that Ethiopia has been notably adopting a comprehensive package of reforms that are needed in the country on macro economy, taxes, revenue, and containing inflation, among others.

“Ethiopia has embarked on a nationally owned reform of the economy,” the ambassador noted.

Kobia believes that all these reforms are needed for EU’s support and will help Ethiopia to recover from its dire economic situation.

Accordingly, Kobia stressed There is a need to have more efficient assistance to the recovery of Ethiopia from the European Union and other international partners, he stressed.

Ethiopia is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in order to have the recovery package by presenting a number of economic reforms, he stated, adding that this is something the EU is supporting and we want Ethiopia to be able to convince the international financial institutions that would help to access those recovery packages as quickly as possible.

“The reason for this is that we as international partners will be able to help Ethiopia much better if there is an IMF plan. The second example I can take on the reforms that are needed is having a conducive environment for businesses, not only foreign businesses, but also for Ethiopian businesses.”

Moreover, the head said that it is very crucial for the recovery of the economy that a conducive framework, a good environment for foreign direct investment and for local investments is created.

Ambassador Kobia also revealed that European companies are ready to come more massively to invest in Ethiopia since the war is over.

“We very much believe that European companies are ready to come more massively to invest in Ethiopia. So our commitment is that the European companies are ready to come and invest in Ethiopia. Those who are here may increase their investment and others engage in Ethiopia. But for that, we really need to work together on a number of issues.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The United Nations (UN), and the Federal Government, have appealed to international donors for more funds to urgently rescue vulnerable people in the North East from hunger and malnutrition.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, made the appeal at the launch of Lean Season Food Security and Nutrition Crisis, Multi-sector Plan 2023, on Thursday in Abuja.

Schmale said efforts were urgently required to avert food and nutrition crisis in the northeast, as years of protracted conflict and insecurity continued to prevent people from producing food.

The UN official noted that hunger and malnutrition had eaten deep into the region, hence the need for victims to get a survival strategy and the means to also earn income for food purchase.

Trond Jensen, Head of UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the March 2023 Cadre Harmonise (CH), projected that 4.3 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, known as the BAY states, were at risk of severe hunger.

According to Jensen, the situation will worsen at the peak of the lean season between June and August.

“`More than half a million of these people will face emergency levels of food insecurity with extremely high acute malnutrition and cases of mortality predicted, unless a rapid and significant scale up of humanitarian assistance is undertaken.

“Approximately, two million children under five years of age, across the three states, will be acutely malnourished in 2023, and this will put them at a greater risk of dying from common infections, causing developmental stagnation,’’ he said.

He said the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), was seeking 1.3 billion dollars to support six million people, and 396.1 million dollars was urgently needed to deliver lifesaving food security and nutrition assistance to 2.8 million persons in the region.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Country Representative, Fred Kafeero, said the number of food insecure people in the northeast had remained constant since 2020.

Kafeero therefore, called for more assistance towards scaling up interventions, aimed at boosting local food production and income generation for the affected populations.

According to him, about 40 million dollars is required during the 2023 lean season to enable the organisation reach 2.3 million people in BAY, and give them access to critical production inputs.

He listed the production inputs to include; fast maturing seed varieties, fertiliser and livestock feeds, among others.

“`Timeliness is a critical factor in food production as it is dictated by seasons, this is the time to invest before it gets too late,” he said.

Mrs sugra Mahamood, Director, Irrigation Agriculture and Crop Development, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), said food security analysis provided valuable insights on the need for immediate and coordinated action.

Mahamood said the people of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, had endured immense hardships due to various factors, including conflicts, displacement and climate-related challenges.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that they have access to adequate and nutritious food to meet their basic needs.

“Our commitment is to mobilise funding and resources, in order to urgently scale up our responses to the challenges at hand,” she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister, says the government is not in a rush to enter the international capital market.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the goal of getting back to the international capital market, which Ghana has been locked out for more than a year, was to give the country a positive ratings and outlook to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

‘There’s no rush to go back to the international capital markets. Our expectation is that in managing our expenditure and increasing our revenue, we’ll have the resources to it,’ Mr Ofori-Atta said.

He, however, noted that ‘Working towards the capital market is important because we then get our ratings up and make the country more attractive for foreign investors, especially [getting] FDI.’

He gave the assurance at a joint press conference on Thursday, which was held in Washington and online by the IMF and the Government of Ghana the IMF approval of the implementation of Ghana’s homegrown policy under an Extended Credit Facility (EFC) arrangement.

The loan facility would ensure macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and lay a solid foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth and job creation, while protecting the most vulnerable of Ghana’s population.

Mr Ofori-Atta explained that the programme would aim at bringing Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GPD) ratio down to 55 per cent, which in addition to the revenue measures in the 2023 budget provide the needed resources to move the country forward.

‘Going forward, we’ll find ways of ensuring that we’re efficient in our deployment [of the $3bn funds] …and ensure efficiency in providing services to the people,’ Mr Ofori-Atta said.

‘We will also try to reduce importation to its barest minimum …by ensuring that the importation of rice, poultry and tomato are brought down and we produce those ourselves. That way our economy can be resilient enough,’ the Minister added.

Mr Stephane Roudet, IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, was confident that the loan-support programme would help address the country’s economic crisis, build the foundation for a better and more inclusive future for all Ghanaians.

‘It will also help ease financing constraints including, by unlocking more funding from the rest of the international community,’ Mr Roudet said.

This is the 17th time that Ghana is getting an IMF loan-support programme to address its economic challenges.

The current economic crisis, which has necessitated the IMF’s $3bn loan-support programme was induced by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and internal structural problems.

The Government is hopeful that by the end of the three-year programme, Ghana’s economy would be resilient, have a strong footing to support sustainable economic growth and enhance the livelihood of citizens.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Hirshabelle State Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management have called for urgent assistance to help communities affected by flooding in the town of Belet Weyne in Hirsahbelle State, Somalia. The floods, which began in early May, are estimated to have affected over 200,000 people and around 79 percent of the town has flooded, according to FAO’s Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM) unit.

“We’re witnessing the Shabelle river’s worst flooding event in the last thirty years, the situation for many displaced families is very precarious right now,” said Ezana Kassa, FAO’s Head of Programme in Somalia. According to the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes and need immediate food, water, shelter, and other lifesaving assistance. “Livelihoods have been destroyed and the risk of water borne diseases are on the rise,” said Kassa. It’s an extra blow for local farmers who say this season’s harvest was looking more promising than during the last three years of drought.

As well as providing flood reports and analysis for humanitarian actors and early warning messages to affected communities through its ‘Digniin’ early warning system, FAO is scaling up emergency cash transfers to affected families and supporting preparedness actions. Districts downstream including Bulo Burto, Jalalaqsi and Jowhar still face moderate to high flood risk warnings.

“We are calling on the international community to urgently provide assistance to the people of Belet Weyne and flood affected regions,” said Minister Asha Khalif Mohamed, of the Hirshabelle State Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, the government agency leading the flood response. She said that the government had already provided emergency food and supplies to affected communities, as well as leading the flood response coordination on the ground. “We need to be ready to bring in what people need as soon as flood waters recede, prevent disease outbreaks and also help people get back on their feet through livelihood interventions,” she said.

FAO has a recent history of flood interventions in Belet Weyne and surrounding areas. Early reports show that flood works implemented by FAO in 2022 with the support of United Kingdom, the World Bank and the Italian Government kept flood levels at bay for weeks longer than in previous years. However, the worst flooding since at least 1991 saw flood waters overflow the high-water mark. Other interventions continue to hold back flood waters, preventing an even greater disaster.

These historic floods are the latest in a series of natural disasters to hit Somalia in recent years, an increasing trend caused in part by global climate change. In 2021-22, the country was hit by a devastating drought that left the country teetering on the edge of famine and 6.6 million people acutely food insecure in its wake. It’s also a reminder of the vulnerability of Somalia to climate change. The country is already one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, and the most reliable scientific modelling shows that climate related shocks will only increase in frequency into the future.

In addition to immediate support for affected populations, FAO is calling for scaled up investments in longer term solutions including more robust flood management initiatives to mitigate the impact of climate shocks on vulnerable communities’ cope and safeguard their food security into the future.

Source: EMM/ United Nations

Somalia’s National Intelligence Agency (NISA) said Thursday that it had seized two illicit shipments of military hardware and explosive materials that were apparently bound for the al-Shabab militant group.

At a news conference in Mogadishu, Somalia’s State Minister of Defense Mohamed Ali Haga said the agency found the arms at Mogadishu’s port and airport.

“At the port of Mogadishu, NISA personnel discovered a shipment of military hardware and explosive materials concealed within containers posing as authorized business imports,” Haga said. “Our forces have [also] seized military equipment at Mogadishu’s Aden Ade International Airport.”

A statement from NISA said an investigation relating to the illicit shipments led to the arrest of 10 individuals associated with a smuggling network.

“Our agency has been following the activities of these individuals in Somalia and outside Somalia,” Haga said. “It has been following their involvement in this smuggling network. Fortunately, all of them are in custody, and none has escaped.”

Neither Haga nor NISA gave further details on the components of the seized shipments, where they were from, or the identities of those involved.

Arms embargo

The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 because of a civil war and factional violence.

The country has an unguarded coastline that’s more than 3,000 kilometers in length and open borders.

Following the establishment of a functioning transitional government in 2012, the successive governments have been working to rebuild stability, good governance and other benchmarks that would help the country’s arms embargo be eased.

In 2013, the U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to partially lift its ban on selling arms to Somalia for a year.

The resolution allowed Somalia’s government to buy small arms to help its security forces develop and fight the Islamist militants, but kept restrictions on heavy weapons.

The remaining sanctions, which require requests for certain weapons to be approved, are renewed annually, despite government objections that al-Shabab still seriously threatens peace and stability in the region, and sanctions are needed to degrade its activities.

The government’s stance is backed by Ethiopia and Uganda, both of which have suffered al-Shabab attacks.

The government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has for months been engaged in an offensive against al-Shabab, including efforts to shut down its financial network and a campaign to counter the group’s ideology.

Source: Voice of America

The Federal Government of Somalia hails the tact and bravery displayed by the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) that led to the seizure of illegal military consignments at Mogadishu Port. The contraband included military equipment intended for use by the Al Shabaab terror group.

NISA has closely been monitoring the conspiracy to import military equipment into the country, with top sleuths managingto track the process of loading the goods from the export source until the goods arrived in Mogadishu in containers with a false manifest showing that the goods were intended for commercial use.

The intelligence body has also been hot on the heels of thenetwork in charge of purchasing, loading and clearing the Al Shabaab contraband. The network consisted of a number of individuals – some of whom are abroad – while others are in Mogadishu and different regions within Somalia.

So far, 10 people including businessmen who illegally use their import-export licenses have been detained. NISA has also seized four trucks that were supposed to ferry the illegal military consignment from the Port of Mogadishu upon clearance.

In a related development, NISA also seized yet another consignment of equipment intended for Al Shabaab use at Mogadishu International Airport. The seizure of these consignments demonstrates the steadfast commitment of the Federal Government of Somalia and its security apparatus toridding the country of terrorism and instability.

This announcement comes as the Prime Minister of the Federal of Government of Somalia, Mr. Hamza Abdi Barre chaired a high-level security meeting in Mogadishu, in which he laudedand encouraged the security forces to maintain their hold on the capital and remain relentless in their pursuit of wresting the remaining regions from cruel hands of the Al Shabaab.

Source: Somali National News Agency