SOMALIA: Villages abandoned as drought bakes Puntland

Photo: Abdi Hassan/IRIN
A dried up well, that was the only source of water
HAMURE, 10 April 2008 (IRIN) - Squatting in the scorching sun, Adan Hassan Mahamud pointed to the parched landscape around Hamure village, 280km east of Bosasso in the self-declared autonomous Somali republic of Puntland.

"I have seen droughts but nothing like this in 12 years," Mahamud, 80, said. "Many in the community have lost a large number of livestock - their only means of livelihood."

Like most of Puntland, Hamure village is experiencing what locals describe as one of the worst droughts in decades. The last rains fell three years ago.

The drought, Mahamud said, had forced most of the 400 families to abandon the village - some going as far as 100km away.

"Many have moved to the villages of Buq Atato, Eil Gaal and the town of Qandala, because they still have boreholes that have water," Said Waberi, the district commissioner of Qandala, the headquarters of the area, told IRIN.

Hamure is at the epicentre of a drought whose symptoms, according to Amina Mohamed of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), were first noticed last June in the Mudug region of central Somalia.

Photo: Abdi Hassan/IRIN
Adan Hassan Mahamud describes the drought that has hit the village of Hamure
"By November it was spreading to other areas, including Sanaag, Sool, Nugal and Bari," Mohamed, UNICEF’s chief field officer in Puntland, said.

Experts worry that the situation is not improving. The Food Security and Assessment Unit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, has, for example, forecast that the April to June gu [long] rains are likely to be "normal to below-normal throughout most of Somalia". Read more...

SOMALIA: Villages abandoned as drought bakes Puntland
Thursday, 07:25 AM
HAMURE Thursday, April 10, 2008 (IRIN) - Squatting in the scorching sun, Adan Hassan Mahamud pointed to the parched landscape around Hamure village, 280km east of Bosasso in the self-declared autonomous Somali republic of Puntland. Read more…

AFRICA: Climate change linked to spread of disease
Thursday, 07:25 AM
BRAZZAVILE Wednesday, April 09, 2008 (IRIN) - Climate change is emerging as a major threat to health and adding pressure on public health systems, especially in Africa, a senior UN official has said. Read more…

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