Mogadishu, November 08, 2019

In recent weeks, widespread damage to farmland and infrastructure has occurred against a backdrop of sustained conflict and repeated climate shocks. The interrelated impact of recurrent drought, flooding and armed conflict have displaced more than 300,000 people already this year, adding to more than four million in need of humanitarian aid through 2019.

As government officials convene in South Africa next week for the Seventeenth Regular Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), national and international organizations in Somalia reinforce the need for support and engagement from governments beyond Africa to address climate-related disasters affecting the continent. “The responsibility to take immediate action to mitigate disaster risks and meet immediate needs, in line with international instrument like the Paris Agreement, falls on all nations,” said Ismail.

As the situation in Somalia deteriorates and more people become displaced by extreme weather events, national and international aid agencies stress the need for a coordinated and well-resourced relief effort. Assistance has been expanded, but assessments undertaken by both UN agencies and NGOs in Somalia indicate that there are still significant gaps with regard to emergency shelter, food, safe drinking water, latrines, mosquito and vector control, nutrition, mobile health supplies and medicine, without which people are at extremely high risk of hunger and disease outbreaks

NGOs in Somalia say the immediate and long-term needs across the country must be seen as part of the global climate crisis and responded to urgently. “The number of Somali people who are displaced and those who are in need of emergency assistance is extremely high and continues to grow. We have a responsibility to ensure that people in need of assistance can access it, and we call on the international community to enable it,” says Ismail.

For more information or to arrange interviews contact:

• Abdisamad Yasin, Communications – Somalia NGO Consortium. Mobile phone: +252 634 442 928, Email: Comms@somaliangoconsortium.org

Notes to the Editor:

The Somalia NGO Consortium is a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working together to improve international aid coordination and raise the presence and profile of NGO representation within the aid coordination structure for Somalia.

Parts of the region are reeling from three years of failed rains which have left many families short of food, Save the Children’s area representative, Mukhtar Mohumed Hassan, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“People are saying this is the worst drought they have seen in decades,” he said via Skype. “They have not seen a drought on this scale for the last 30 or 40 years.”

Malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in Awdal region, which borders Ethiopia, the United Nations said.

Hospital admissions of children with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition almost doubled in two months, with 33 in March up from 18 in January in Borama Hospital, Hassan said.

Borama is the capital of Awdal region and the second largest city in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia.

“Right now we fear starvation,” Save the Children quoted one mother in the hospital as saying. “We have no money to buy food.”

Some 1.7 million people, 40 % of the population of northern Somalia need emergency aid

Milk prices have doubled since 2015 to just over $1 pergallon, Hassan said. Millions of people across the Horn of Africa have been hit by El Nino-related drought, with the largest numbers in neighbouring Ethiopia, where 10.2 million need emergency aid.

Some 1.7 million people, 40 % of the population of northern Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions, need emergency aid, the UN says. “Another 1.3 million are on the brink of slipping into a deeper crisis if rains continue to fail and aid is too slow to come,” it said on 11 April.

The drought may worsen as predictions for Somalia’s main ‘Gu’ rainy season, from March to June, are poor, it said.
“If that happens, I think the situation will get much worse,” said Hassan.

“The remaining livestock will not get food to continue living.” Among the most vulnerable are thousands of Ethiopians who crossed the border into Awdal, hoping to find water and pasture, only to find an equally difficult situation.

They became stranded in the Oogo Mountains, without food, water or shelter and had to be rescued by locals with trucks, Hassan said.

“They were just walking with their children, some even newborn babies,” said Hassan, who visited the area in March. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) expressed concern about these families in late March, saying they faced an emergency “with few saleable animals and no access to food credit, community support, or humanitarian assistance”.

Most have been transported back to Ethiopia, but thousands more are still trying to make the journey on foot to the border town of Harirad, some 80 km north of Borama in Somaliland, Hassan said.
The president of Somaliland, which broke away from Somaliain 1991 but is not internationally recognised, created a national drought committee in February, composed of ministers, businessmen and religious leaders, tasked with soliciting aid and ensuring it reaches people in need.
All government staff, police and soldiers had 10 per cent deducted from their salaries in February and March to contribute to fundraising, Hassan said.
Schoolchildren have also been asked to donate. “In all the schools, they are paying $1 or $2 or whatever they can afford,” Hassan said. “People are really mobilising themselves because they think it may take time for aid from the international community to reach them.” Click here for more drought related articles

Source: REUTERS

Italy’s President, Sergio Mattarella, said there seemed to have been “yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean”.

His comments followed a report by BBC Arabic quoting the Somali ambassador to Europe that 400 people had died crossing from Egypt to Europe.

Reports said the refugees were fleeing to Italy from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea in four boats which were ill-equipped for the journey.

“2016, the Mediterranean is a mass grave,” Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) tweeted in response to the news.

The original flurry of reports have, however, yet to be confirmed by either Egyptian or Greek officials.

The Italian coastguard has also said it knew nothing about the reported disaster.

Médecins Sans Frontières has also been unable to confirm to The Independent whether the tragedy has taken place.

Earlier on Monday morning, the Italian coastguard said 108 refugees had been saved and six bodies recovered from a semi-submerged rubber dinghy on Sunday.

Separately, 33 refugees were rescued overnight off eastern coast of Sicily.

A year ago, a fishing boat crowded with refugees sank in the Mediterranean with around 800 people trapped inside.

Italy has now vowed to raise the shipwreck from the sea floor, to recover the corpses.

EU policymakers have been criticised of “killing by neglect” after they cut rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

The scaling back of search and rescue operations “created the conditions that led to massive loss of life,” according to a report.

Tanya Steele, CEO of Save the Children, said: “The lack of concrete measures to protect children who gamble and lose their lives to reach the perceived safety of Europe should weigh on all our minds.  A year on from one of the greatest migration tragedies in the Mediterranean, safe and legal routes have not been properly implemented.

“Europe continues to see this migration crisis as primarily about safeguarding its own borders.  A third of those desperate enough to make this perilous journey are children. Even though the European Commission has identified children as one of the most vulnerable groups, recommending relocation measures as a priority, in effect, this is only happening on paper.

“This gruesome anniversary must not be purely symbolic. It is an insult to the thousands of men, women and children who have drowned on Europe’s shores if action is not urgently taken to prevent the further loss of human lives.  Europe’s leaders must invest in search and rescue at sea and offer safe and dignified means of applying for asylum, in line with its legal obligations.”

The agencies said in a joint report released in Nairobi that humanitarian crisis looms following the move by banks in Australia, U.S., Britain and elsewhere to cut ties with the money transfer operators that make remittances possible to Somalia.

“Over 40 percent of people living in Somalia rely on remittances to meet their basic daily needs, such as food, health and education. Governments must urgently make good their promises to keep this crucial flow of cash open,” said Oxfam Somalia Country Director Enzo Vecchio.

“If not, 3 million Somalis risk going hungry this year. Families will not be able to afford health care, and a generation of children could be kept out of school,” Vecchio added.

Just three years on from a devastating famine that killed 258, 000, Somalia continues to be in the grips of humanitarian crisis.

Statistics show Somalis abroad remit 1.3 billion U.S. dollars back home annually, representing 25-45 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

U.S.-based Merchants Bank on Feb. 6 closed all accounts with Somali money transfer operators (MTOs).

According to the operators, Merchants Bank is responsible for transferring an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of remittances from America to Somalia.

Similarly, in Australia, Westpac Bank has announced that it will close Somali remittance accounts soon, and last year in Britain, Barclays Bank also closed accounts of Somali MTOs.

“This is not just extra money; this is money that I need to survive on a daily basis,” Hawa Abdullahi Warsame, a Somali woman living in northern Somalia said in a report by the aid agencies.

“Not only am I dependent on it, but over 10 relatives – my entire extended family – are as well. I have sick relatives who need medication, and children that I am trying to provide an education for. This money is vital for that,” she said.

The Horn of Africa nation has no formal banking system and money transfer operators provide the services people in foreign countries would expect from a bank.

Degan Ali, Executive Director of the African Development Solutions (Adeso), said annual remittances to Somalia dwarf the yearly humanitarian aid, development aid and foreign direct investment budgets for Somalia combined.

“If banks end their relationships with money transfer operators, families stand to lose the only transparent means of cash transfer open to them,” Ali said.

“Many will be forced to use informal channels to send and receive funds from loved ones overseas, and ultimately much less money will go through,” she said.

The aid agencies said the steps taken by a number of Western governments over the past year have been largely positive, but ultimately not enough to prevent the critical lack of access to banking services that now exists for Somali MTOs.

The agencies said Britain has made some progress with its “Safer Corridors” initiative, which aims to build banks’ confidence in Somali MTOs by strengthening their accountability and transparency mechanisms.

The British government, however, needs to move quickly to implement the programme and ensure more active engagement with the banking sector.

In September 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department publicly acknowledged that MTO account closures could be disastrous for U.S. and Somali interests and promised to clarify expectations for banks partnering with MTOs perceived to be high risk.

The Treasury Department and USAID have also worked with Somalia’s Central Bank to improve its financial management systems.

The agencies warned that unless the U.S. government takes urgent and extraordinary action to restore the full flow of remittances through formal channels, many Somali families will struggle to survive.

Analysts say that while the closure of formal remittance channels would hurt Somali communities, it would benefit criminal networks that prey on informal money transfer systems that are invisible to regulators and law enforcement officials.

The U.S. attorneys’ offices from Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Boston will discuss the progress of pilot programs in those cities to stem the causes of radicalization, particularly in their immigrant populations, in hopes of breaking the recruiting cycle.

From Minnesota, which has struggled with the issue for much of the past decade, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger will lead a delegation of about 15 people, including law enforcement officials and Somali community leaders.

Luger told The Associated Press that key elements developed with Somali community leaders include more youth programming and mentors, expanded job opportunities and training, more dialogue between youth and religious leaders, and help affording college.

Luger said his office will also help develop “intervention models” to help parents, relatives and others step in if they suspect a loved one is susceptible to being recruited. He promised regular updates on the pilot over the next year.

The U.S. attorneys’ offices for Los Angeles and Boston have said less publicly about their programs and declined to speak in detail about them ahead of the summit.

Overcoming distrust has been a challenge for federal officials. The Los Angeles program has drawn criticism from civil rights groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which said the group is worried the program will infringe on Muslims’ freedom of speech and religion, and might hurt their public image.

CAIR’s national office issued a statement ahead of the summit questioning the effectiveness of programs closely tied to a government that many Muslims don’t trust. “Credible community voices who are not viewed as ‘being in the government’s pocket’ are necessary,” CAIR said.

The radicalization of Muslim youth has been a major concern in Minnesota, where more than 22 Somali men have gone to Somalia to fight for the radical group al-Shabab. Several others have gone or tried to go to Syria to fight for the Islamic State group.

Luger said some of the pilot project’s work already has begun. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with 2,000 jobs across the country, has agreed to hold a series of job fairs to encourage local Somalis to apply. He said future events will include other agencies.

The delegation will include Mohamed Farah, executive director of a youth group known as Ka Joog, who said he plans to talk about some of the successes his group has had through its educational and arts programs, and expanding efforts across the state and nationwide. “We have a model that works. We know this because … they’re the ones graduating and becoming a success,” Farah said.

Abdisalam Adam, an imam who also teaches English as a second language at two St. Paul high schools and will attend the summit, said he wants more assurances that the Minneapolis pilot won’t be used for surveillance or intelligence-gathering on the Somali community.

“I don’t realistically expect one high-profile meeting will be sufficient to address these issues but it’s a starting point,” Adam said. “A lot of work will have to come after the meeting.”

Dhammaan qoyska reer Yussuf Geedeeye meelkasta oo ay joogaan waxay iyaga oo ka tiiraanyeysan tacsi u dirayaan qoyskii iyo eheladii uu ka geeryooday ALLA HA U NAXARIISTEE Marxuum Cabdiraxman Xaji Nur (Shagaxle) oo bishan May 20 keedii ku geeryooday magaalada London ee dalka Ingiriiska. Waxaanu si gaara tacsidan ugu diraynaa Marwo Nuura Caydiid Maxamed iyo Caruurteeda Maxamed iyo Hoodo iyo sidoo kale dhammaan qoyska reer Xaji Nur Cabdalle.

Waxaanu marxuumkaa ilaaheenna weyn uga baryaynaa inuu naxaristii janno ka waraabiyo dhammaanteenna samir iyo iimaan inaga siiyo…..AAMIIN……..AAMIIN……..AAMIIN.

Sida la wada ogyahay Cabdiraxman Xaji Nuur waxa uu ahaa shakhsi ilaalhay iimaan, akhlaaq wanaag, diin iyo dad jacayl ku manaystay, isaga oo ka mid ahaa dadkii sida sharafta leh ugu soo adeegay dalkiisii iyo dadkiisa magac iyo maamuus wanaagsanna ku lahaa ummadda Soomaaliiyeed dhexdeeda. Waxaanu ilaahay ka baryaynaa in uu ka abaal mariyo wanaagaa uu mutaystay uguna bedelo Jannatul Fardawsa, qoyskiisa iyo ummadda Soomaaliyeed oo dhanna Samir iyo iimaan ka siiyo ………AAMIIN……..AAMIIN….AAMIIN.

Prior to receiving the gift, the shoeless passenger was sat on the bus with only plastic hairnets to cover his feet.

The ‘random act of kindness’ took place on the 341 bus route in Surrey, B.C. and was witnessed by an off-duty bus driver who took photos of the incident, which were later posted on Facebook.

“It made my heart melt,” Surjit Singh Virk told QMI Agency. “He just took his shoes and socks off and said, ‘You can take these, don’t worry about me — I live close by and can walk.”

Singh Virk added that the recipient was “shocked” by the gift and afterwards exclaimed, “What a nice guy… Did that really happen?”

Speaking to QMI Agency, the 27-year-old Muslim said: “I felt bad for the guy. He was wearing plastic hairnets on his feet. I was only about a two-minute walk from home, so I thought I could give him my shoes.”

A spokesman from the local mosque, Mufti Aasim Rashid, said that the act was an example of sadaqah, a virtuous deed in Islam.

“Whenever we do a good deed, even if it’s to help someone out, the Islamic teachings maintain this should remain only for the pleasure of God,” he said. “It’s nice to see people practising the teachings…it looks like he’s really benefited.”

Pictures of the incident have been liked almost 2,000 times on Facebook. Commenting on the social network site, Ayesha Chowdhury wrote: “This is what true Islam really is. Mercy towards all humanity regardless of race, colour, status, or religion!”

The Daily Telegraph

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Oxfam, CARE and seven other aid agencies on Monday called on Barclays Bank to scrap plans to close several money transfer accounts that provide a lifeline to millions of Somalis who depend on remittances to survive.

Barclays had planned to close a number of accounts used by Somali transfer firms in the U.K. on Tuesday because of fears the funds might end up in the hands of groups branded as terrorists, such as the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab.

The bank said on Monday afternoon it would postpone the closure of the accounts until September 30, a delay Oxfam said amounted to no more than “a short stay of execution.”

Diaspora remittances are the biggest foreign currency earner for Somalia, which is slowly emerging from two decades of civil conflict and recurrent drought. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Somalis living abroad send home about $1.3 billion a year to their relatives.

Somalis are finding it increasingly difficult to make these transfers because banks worry they will be held responsible if the money falls into the hands of militants. Virtually all major US banks have stopped offering remittance services to Somalia and Barclays is the only U.K. bank still doing so.

“The banking rules are illogical, cold hearted and counter-productive. It leaves families already struggling to make ends meet to go without,” said Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s chief executive.

“Somalia will find it hard to work its way out of poverty and instability while its people are needlessly denied the financial support from their loved ones abroad.”

WORSE THAN 2011 FAMINE

Last month, a senior United Nations official spoke out against Barclays’ plans, saying it would have a direct humanitarian impact on Somalia, where several regions of the country have barely emerged from famine.

The Overseas Development Institute, a British think-tank, warned that cutting remittances “could be even worse and much longer lasting than the 2011 famine”, which killed some 260,000 people.

Somalis in the U.K. send over $157 million a year to friends and families in Somalia, where the average income is about $300 a year.

It is impossible to send money from the West to Somalia via bank transfers because Somalia’s commercial banking system collapsed in the 1990s after the fall of dictator Siad Barre.

Instead, money is sent using money transfer operators, such as Dahabshiil, whose bank accounts gradually are being closed down.

Aid agencies said Barclays should delay plans to shut down the accounts for at least a year so that governments and banks can agree on regulations to enable money transfers to continue while addressing money laundering concerns.