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SOMALIA / SOMALILAND DROUGHT
STORY: SOMALIA / SOMALILAND DROUGHT
TRT: 02:26
SOURCE: UNSOM
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT REQUIRED
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SOMALI / NATS
DATELINE: 03 APRIL 2017, HARGEISA, SOMALIALAND
1. Various shots, Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia arrives in Hargeisa
2. Wide shot, residents of Laaca village
3. Med shot, Keating and Saad Ali Shire, Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs listening to villagers
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Keating, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia:
“So, in addition to responding immediately, there is the problem of how do you recover from all this. How are we going to rebuild people’s capacities to cope? Because, who knows there may be yet another drought in a year’s time or two years’ time?”
5. Med shot, residents of Laaca village
6. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmed Abdi Jama, Laaca Village Elder:
“We are requesting and appealing for food aid as host communities and those who have been displaced.”
7. Various shots, residents fetch water from a water catchment area
8. Wide shot, a resident carries his water Jerri cans on a donkey
9. Wide shot, Gabiley Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Clinic
10. Med shot, a nurse writes down some notes in the clinic
11. Tilt up, a child is weighed during a check up
12. Various shots, measurements are taken during the check up
13. Wide shot, patients wait in line for check up at the clinic
14. Med shot, Keating, tours the clinic
15. Various shots, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, President of Somaliland receives Keating
16. Various shots, Mohamoud Silanyo, and Keating in a meeting
17. Wide shot, Keating and Saad Ali Shire, Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs hold a press conference
18. Med shot, journalists
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Keating Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia:
“The people of Somaliland should not have to go through this again. We have been talking about recovery and resilience plans, how the UN can contribute to the work of the Somaliland Government and civil society in preparing for recovery and resilience. And we have also been talking about the role of the UN more broadly here in Somaliland.”
20. Various shots, Keating vising a solar panel energy saving projects
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Michael Keating, concluded a two-day visit to Somaliland to assess the impact of the prolonged drought on its population.
Keating visited communities affected by the drought in Laaca village, located about 70 kilometres west of the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa. He visited a water distribution site established by a local non-governmental organization called Health Education Agro-pastoralist Liaison (HEAL) with funding from UNICEF. The partnership of HEAL and UNICEF is providing safe drinking water and hygiene kits to local schools and approximately 2,700 households.
The SRSG emphasized the need to develop long-term solutions to the plight of Somaliland residents who have been hard hit by the current drought and will remain vulnerable to the recurrence of similar humanitarian crises in the foreseeable future.
Keating said that “in addition to responding immediately, there is the problem of how do you recover from all this,” adding “how are we going to rebuild people’s capacities to cope? There may be yet another drought in a year’s time or two years’ time.”
Village elder Ahmed Abdi Jama said a number of families displaced by the drought had relocated to the area, thereby exhausting the available resources for residents of Laaca.
Ahmed said “we are requesting and appealing for food aid as host communities and those who have been displaced,” said.
Keating also visited a maternal and child health and nutrition clinic in Gabiley town, west of Hargeisa, to assess the medical needs of the local population.
Foreign Minister Shire accompanied the SRSG on the field visit and stated that hundreds of livestock animals have died due to a lack of water and pasture, depriving many pastoral communities of their only source of income.
Keating held talks with senior government officials, led by President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, members of the National Drought Response Committee, civil society representatives and United Nations agencies.
The discussions focused on how to scale up and improve coordination of ongoing drought response activities to help meet the needs of affected communities.
During a press conference after he met with President Silanyo, Keating said “the people of Somaliland should not have to go through this again. We have been talking about recovery and resilience plans, how the UN can contribute to the work of Somaliland Government and civil society. We have also been talking about the role of the UN more broadly here in Somaliland.”
The SRSG pledged to redouble efforts to draw international attention to the precarious situation in Somaliland and raise more funds to respond more effectively to the humanitarian needs.
While communities struggle to cope with the challenges of malnutrition and displacement, humanitarian aid workers warned that the possible onset of rains during the upcoming Gu season could trigger flooding and a spike in waterborne diseases such as cholera.
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