Update on Somali Region, Ethiopia, from WFP Emergency Report no. 22/2001 of 1 June 2001, incorporating additional information from WFP Ethiopia.
Missions in northern and southern parts of Somali Region by the UN Emergency Unit for Ethiopia have confirmed reports by WFP monitors and NGOs working in the region that conditions have continued to improve for the majority of the population of the region over recent weeks. Further heavy rain fell in the Aware area of Degehbour zone last week, and more recently in the Jijiga area, further easing the water situation.
Due to the uneven distribution of the Gu rains, rainfall was not sufficient in the following locations: Denan and other parts of Gode zone - Gode, Kelafo, Mustahil and Ferfer weredas (districts); Dolo Odo area of Liben zone, and southern parts of Afder zone including the Bare area; Danot and parts of Warder zone, and parts of Degehbour and Jijiga zones, though the situation in the latter two zones may have improved with the most recent rains. In contrast to last year, there is good pasture and water in areas adjoining all the areas of poor rainfall, and where necessary, pastoralists and their herds are migrating to areas they traditionally move to in years of poor rainfall.
There is on-going concern for the drought displaced at Hartisheik in Jijiga zone, where serious health problems are now being addressed by the regional bureau of health and UNICEF. Poor sanitation and hygiene at this location have resulted in high morbidity rates and deaths among children and appear to be a major factor in the unacceptably high levels of malnutrition among the children under five. A therapeutic feeding centre is being set up by the NGO MCDO (Mother and Child Development Organisation) with the assistance of ACF and UNICEF. Additional food allocations have been made by the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission for Hartisheik for 11,000 people, and for the 2,000 drought displaced in Kebrebeyah and are being delivered by WFP.
Additional food has also been provided for the 11,000 drought displaced in Fafen in Jijga zone, where MCDO has reopened their supplementary feeding centre after a break of several months, and to the population of Denan woreda in Gode zone (in Denan town the resident population is estimated at 12,624 and the drought displaced population at 16,519). In Denan, MSF-Belgium runs supplementary and therapeutic feeding programmes. As previously reported, a recent MSF-B nutritional assessment indicated very high malnutrition rates.
Currently some one million people are receiving assistance in Somali Region. In the period January to end of April, approximately 26,000 mt were dispatched to the various zones of the region, most of it through the DPPC using WFP food, and some through NGOs working in Afder and Liben zones. The DPPC target for the same period is 36,788 mt. During the year 2000, food distributions in Somali Region totalled 191,447 mt, to some 1.5 million people.
A recent assessment mission by the regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau is expected to provide further details on other locations where the drought displaced have gathered over the past year and a half, and recommend action needed to assist the most vulnerable parts of these populations. This assessment will provide crucial information to the regular mid-year DPPC-led assessment in the region which is due to begin 9 June, and which will be estimating food aid needs for the period June-December 2001.
Dispatches of food aid throughout the country, January-April 2001:
Country-wide dispatch figures of food aid for the period January to end of April 2001 are: DPPC 71,843 mt and NGOs 78,752 mt, for a total of 150,595 mt, towards the requirements for the same period of 188,766 mt for 6.2 million beneficiaries. In 2000, a total of 999,135 mt was delivered (DPPC 613,254 mt, NGOs 385,881 mt) for 10.2 million beneficiaries.
Belg and Pastoral Updates
Preparations are underway for the DPPC-led Belg and Pastoral Assessment which is scheduled to take place over a two to three week period, commencing mid June, and will assess the Belg and pastoral performance in Tigray, Amhara, Oromiya, Somali and SNNP regions.
Initial indications suggest that, in general, the belg producing areas of Northern Ethiopia (South Tigray, North and South Wello, and North East Shewa) will have a relatively good belg harvest when compared to the harvests over the past five years, which were declared to be near total failures. While there are pocket areas where the Belg has been declared a failure (e.g. Alamata and Raya Azebo weredas in Southern Tigray), these areas are not entirely dependant on Belg crops.
Belg areas in SNNPR experienced timely and well distributed rains, which is expected to result in a good harvest.
The situation in pastoral areas of Borena, Oromiya Region, which suffered from three years of consecutive poor rains, has improved this year. However, there are still concerns about the rainfall situation in the pastoral areas of neighbouring Bale zone.
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]