http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbFri, 12 Mar 2010 09:13:59 GMTBOSASSO Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - In an attempt to deal with a growing influx of migrants, authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland are adopting new measures to stop people from undertaking the hazardous journey to Yemen, officials said.BOSASSO Friday, March 12, 2010 (IRIN) - In an attempt to deal with a growing influx of migrants, authorities in Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland are adopting new measures to stop people from undertaking the hazardous journey to Yemen, officials said.

"The problem of migrants is not going away and the Puntland authorities, particularly in the Bari region [Bosasso area], had to come up with a new strategy to deal with this problem," said Mohamud Jama Muse, director of the Migration Response Centre (MRC) in the regional capital, Bosasso.

MRC was created in April 2009, under the office of the Bari governor, to "register and provide counselling and assist" the migrants. Between April and December 2009, it registered 7,223 persons.

"This number is smaller than the actual number," Muse told IRIN on 1 March. "You have to understand, a lot of these people are not very trusting of authorities, so they never bother registering."

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 78,487 Ethiopians and Somalis crossed into Yemen from Somalia and Djibouti in 2009, of whom 685 died.

So far in 2010, 5,032 have crossed and four have died, said Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia.

Learning to fish

Muse said the government had adopted a two-track approach. Apart from the MRC, security forces had cracked down on smugglers and closed the ports from which they operate.

"With the help of IOM [International Organization for Migration] we started a pilot project with a local NGO, Red Sea Fishing Organization [RESFO], in skills training and income generation, for 100 migrants and locals to teach them skills to make a living," he explained.

The group is taught how to fish, process the catch, repair nets and keep books.

"We are even teaching some of them to swim," said Mohamed Said of RESFO. "The aim is to provide an alternative to boarding those boats [to Yemen]."

The project aims to integrate the migrants into the community, said Ahmed Muse Mohamed, IOM officer-in-charge in Bosasso. "We want to create opportunities here for them so they don’t have to go on these dangerous journeys," he added.

Too weak to walk

"By the time they reach us they have walked over 1,000km and are dehydrated and almost starving," said Muse, and reports indicated some died on the way to Bosasso.

Abdi, not his real name, came from Ethiopia four months ago. He walked 760km to reach Bosasso, with the aim of going to Yemen.

He and six others had to avoid being stopped by security forces or attacked by bandits. "It is not a trip I would want to make again," he said. "It was too difficult and dangerous. By the time I arrived I was so weak I could barely walk."

He has registered with MRC but has not started the training yet.

Addis Tolosa, 30, an Ethiopian migrant who has been in Bosasso for a couple of years, went to Yemen but was intercepted by the Yemeni coastguard and returned to Bosasso.

He is now being trained by RESFO. "I don’t have the means to go back [to Yemen] so I am now in this training to learn how to earn a living," said. "As soon we finish the training I will get fishing gear and go to work."

Some locals, however, insisted they would still like to go to Yemen.

Mohamed Hassan Shire, 23, from the coastal town of Kismayo, 2,000km south, arrived in Bosasso six months ago. He said he left out of fear he would be forcibly recruited into a militia.

"I came here because I was not safe in Kismayo," he said. "People I knew died trying to get there [Yemen]. I know also that what I am doing is like flipping a coin, but I will try it. I have no other option."

More help needed

The former Puntland Bari Governor Muse Ghelle (replaced on 6 March) told IRIN he was determined to help the potential migrants. "With the very little resources we have we are trying but we need help," he added.

He called on the international community to increase its support to Puntland to help it deal with the growing influx of migrants.

Puntland would not be able to cope on its own. "We need more meaningful help from the donor community," he said.

Muse of MRC said the migrants needed emergency food upon arrival, temporary shelter, a health centre and a reception centre to receive them.

"Most of these people are economic migrants and when they come here they have exhausted what little they had, so it is important to at least have somewhere where they can get some help immediately."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88405BOSASSO Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Abdullahi Aden Ali, 32, arrived in Bosasso, commercial capital of the autonomous region of Puntland, 10 years ago from southern Somalia. His aim, like that of thousands of young Somalis, was to go to Yemen and on to Saudi Arabia. He first fled his home town of Baidao for the capital, Mogadishu, but was again forced out when fighting between warlords intensified.BOSASSO Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (IRIN) - Abdullahi Aden Ali, 32, arrived in Bosasso, commercial capital of the autonomous region of Puntland, 10 years ago from southern Somalia. His aim, like that of thousands of young Somalis, was to go to Yemen and on to Saudi Arabia. He first fled his home town of Baidao for the capital, Mogadishu, but was again forced out when fighting between warlords intensified.

Now Ali runs a wholesale clothing business in Bosasso. He spoke to IRIN on 28 February about his reversal of fortunes:

"We left Baidao in 1992 because of the famine and the fighting between different factions. My father thought we would be better off in Mogadishu but this was not the case; the fighting there was between warlords and there were gangs of freelance militias killing and robbing people.

"In 1998, highway robbers killed my father and I took over helping my mother.

"I heard from a friend that a lot of young people were going to Bosasso, taking boats to Yemen and from there going on to Saudi Arabia where they found jobs. I decided to try my luck.

"I reached Bosasso in August 1999 with 20,000 shillings [US$80 cents] and nothing else but the clothes on my back. I met some young men from the south who told me I would have to pay at least $50 to smugglers if I wanted to go to Yemen. I did not have the money so I had to work and save.

"A friend suggested that I could sell clothes for a city trader and make some money; the trader would set his price and I would sell the items for any price I could fetch, anything above his reserved price was mine. I gladly opted to go into the business and we often carried the clothes on our shoulders as we hawked them across the town. I would make a small cut for every item I sold.

"It was not easy at the beginning but I got used to it. I started hawking the clothes in nearby villages where I could charge higher prices and the competition was less.

"I was making fairly good money and I had $50 for the boat but then I decided I could make a better living here. I made enough money to buy my own clothes to sell instead of relying on the initial trader.

"By 2006, I made enough money to open a shop with some friends. I am now running this wholesale store. Six of us own it. We have one member in Dubai - we send him orders and he buys the goods and sends them to Bosasso. We are now supplying a number of retail businesses in Bosasso and other places.

"I am married with four daughters. By the grace of God, I am now able to take care of them and provide a comfortable life. We don’t depend on anyone else. My first daughter is six years old and is about to start school.

"I may eventually go back to Baidoa if the situation improves but I will never cut my ties to Bosasso. It is where I became a man. Bosasso is now home and I am happy to be here."

ah/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88380BOSASSO Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - The number of people seeking mental health treatment has increased in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, despite the existence of only one small health unit, officials said.BOSASSO Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - The number of people seeking mental health treatment has increased in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland, despite the existence of only one small health unit, officials said.

"We have only two rooms; one for males and one for females, with five beds each," Abdulkadir Khalif Ali, the nurse who manages the Bosasso general hospital's mental health wing. "The demand is rising; there are days when I have 20 or 30 patients, some requiring hospitalization, but I have to release them because there is no space."

Ali, the only qualified medical employee in the unit, told IRIN there was no psychiatrist. "I do almost everything a doctor would do," he added. "But we could do with one, no question."

The hospital recorded some 844 patients in 2009, despite the lack of mental health facilities and staff.

Francesca Rivelli of the protection sector, psycho-social support and mental health, of the NGO Gruppo per le Relazioni Transculturali (GRT), told IRIN the hospital was far too inadequate for the number of people it served.

"It is too small if we consider the inhabitants of Bosasso and moreover if we consider that the MHD [mental health department] at Bosasso hospital also serves people from all over Puntland and south-central Somalia," she said.

GRT set up the mental illness unit in 2004 and supported it up to 2008 when it stopped the support due to lack of donor funding. "There is support for malaria, TB and HIV/Aids but not so much for mental health," Rivelli.

Cases of post-stress traumatic syndrome have increased in Somalia mainly because there has been an increase in insecurity since the fall of the Siad Barre government in 1991, coupled with sporadic clashes, displacement and the daily uncertainty and violence in an impoverished environment, she said.

"In Somalia we're also talking about a long-standing and unique combination of harsh conditions..." said Rivelli.

Lack of interest

Ali said most of his patients displayed an array of mental illnesses such as psychosis, mood disorders, substance abuse, depression, neurosis and epilepsy.

Unfortunately, not many aid organizations in Puntland, he added, were interested in mental health issues. "I think they are more comfortable in other areas, such as FGM/C [female genital mutilation/cutting] and other easier-to-understand diseases."

Rivelli, however, said it should not be too difficult or costly to work in the mental health sector "through fine-tuned support initiatives at secondary health system level, namely strengthening the services provided by the local MHD.

"At the outset of the intervention, it is necessary to rely on motivated and qualified medical staff providing incentives both money-wise and in terms of motivation in coordination with the hospital system, to stop the turnover and brain-drain of the already few human resources," she added.

Secondly, having psychotropic drugs provided by international agencies and donors would boost the quality of treatment offered to the patients.

There was also a need to carry out the clinical and social work side by side with professional workers such as health workers and counsellors.

Running out of drugs

Ismahan Nur had brought her 30-year-old brother-in-law from the town of Galkayo, 750km south of Bosasso, to the hospital. He had been sick for more than two years and the family tried traditional means to cure him. "We tried everything but he only got worse. He stopped eating, was not sleeping and was suspicious of everybody."

They brought him to the hospital in January and he was put on medication for schizophrenia, according to Ali. "He is much better now. He is lucid, eating and sleeping well."

Ali, however, warned that the hospital was running out of drugs. "We have started telling people to buy the drugs from the town," adding that most of the patients could not afford medicines.

According to Rivelli, in the past three years only the European Union and World Health Organization had allocated funds to some interventions in mental health in Somalia; "thus the overall budget allocated is negligible compared to the needs".

Most of that supported running costs of existing but neglected facilities, drugs, training and education campaigns, such as the initiative to free patients from being chained.

A great deal had to be done to improve mental health in Somalia. "Referral mechanisms to bridge the gap between rural and urban areas; community-based mental health programmes and research on the use of khat, gender and mental health, ex-combatants and mental health," she said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88364NAIROBI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Global funding shortfalls for fighting AIDS could make it impossible for developing countries to implement new World Health Organization treatment guidelines, activists have said. NAIROBI Tuesday, March 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Global funding shortfalls for fighting AIDS could make it impossible for developing countries to implement new World Health Organization treatment guidelines, activists have said.

WHO released new guidelines on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in December 2009, raising the CD4 count - a measure of immune strength - at which HIV-positive people should start ART from 200 to 350. Research has shown that starting ART earlier reduces the rate of death and opportunistic disease.

"WHO's new recommendations are excellent in theory, but they did not give us a practical way of implementing the guidelines - already we have shortages of drugs in trying to put people with CD4s below 200 on treatment," said James Kamau, coordinator of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement.

"How will we now put so many more people on ARVs? The increased number of people on drugs means not just more drugs, but more labs, more health centres and health workers, more general care - the expense is enormous."

An estimated four million people around the world are currently on ART - a 10-fold increase since 2003, when the drugs became widely available - but this figure still represents just over one-third of the people who need the medication.

"If WHO's new recommendations are not implemented, the international community risks subsidising less expensive yet sub-standard care for developing countries," said Sharonann Lynch, MSF's HIV/AIDS policy advisor, in a press release.

"Avoiding this will depend on the willingness of donors to make new commitments. Although this is not easy in today's financial environment, donor countries cannot back away from supporting the promise of universal access to treatment made five years ago."

"The situation is now an emergency"

In Uganda, where the government plans to release new treatment guidelines reflecting WHO's recommendations, officials said the number of people needing treatment would rise from 300,000 to about 750,000. The country recently suffered drug shortages in its public health sector, partially caused by funding problems.

"The numbers will be too great for us to manage," said Dr David Kigawalama, head of prevention services at the Uganda AIDS Commission. "We need to sit with our AIDS development partners to forge a way forward."

Ahead of a high-level meeting between Group of Eight (G8) leaders and AIDS advocates in London on 10 March, AIDS activists met with British International Development Minister Gareth Thomas on 9 March and called on the world's wealthiest nations to honour their 2005 Gleneagles pledge to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010.

"Instead of building on progress, some donor nations and governments of highly affected countries are backing away from the universal access commitment with a series of poorly funded half-measures on AIDS," the executive director of the International AIDS Society, Robin Gorna, said in a press statement.

"The situation is now an emergency: new treatment enrolments in many countries are coming to a standstill, the risk of drug resistance is increasing, and fragile gains made over the last 10 years may soon erode, with potentially serious consequences for future efforts to control this epidemic."

The activists singled out Canada - the only G8 nation firmly opposed to the Financial Transactions Tax, a tiny tax on financial transactions that could raise the billions of dollars needed to fulfil the universal access pledge.

The global economic downturn forced the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's largest funder, to cut disbursements by 10 percent in 2008, while the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has flat-lined funding to many countries, limiting the growth of PEPFAR-funded treatment programmes.

kr/kn/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88368BOSASSO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A long civil war, frequent droughts, unemployment and high food prices have led to an increase in the number of street children in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with NGOs and government officials calling for urgent steps to resolve the problem. BOSASSO Monday, March 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A long civil war, frequent droughts, unemployment and high food prices have led to an increase in the number of street children in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with NGOs and government officials calling for urgent steps to resolve the problem.

"In the past, most of the children on the streets of Bosasso were from south-central Somalia," said Muse Ghele, governor of Bari region. "Now we are noticing more and more locals both from urban and rural areas.”

Between 4,500 and 5,500 children are on Bosasso's streets, according to the governor.

Abdulaziz Mohamed Hamud, child protection consultant with OxfamNovib, told IRIN: “You have to understand that numbers of street children are estimates and could be even higher... There are no exact figures but the numbers seem to be increasing daily."

Young providers

The children, according to Abdihakim Farah Arush, chairman of the Bari Child Protection Network (BCPN), fall into two categories: those who work to help their families, mostly local and internally displaced (IDPs) who go home at night; as well as those who sleep on the street, mostly substance abusers.

The reasons for the children being on the street vary, he said. Many of those from south-central Somalia were separated from their families on their way north while others end up on the streets to help their families, or fend for themselves.

Shoe-shining and car-washing, serving as porters or washing sacks in the market are the jobs of most of the street boys in Bosasso.

Arush said while most street children were boys, more and more girls were joining them, cleaning business premises or people’s homes. Some children as young as two or three were put on the streets to beg by desperate families.

Hamud of OxfamNovib said most of the children suffered abuse and physical violence. "Many of them have the scars as proof. On the street at night they are easy prey with no one to protect them."

Risks

Many have been infected with "all sort of diseases, such as TB, skin diseases; while many others suffer from malnutrition. Most don’t know what they suffer from," Hamud added.

Abdullahi Said, 12, is on the street because he has to help his mother with his three younger siblings. He collects garabo (leftover khat) and sells it to those who cannot afford the good khat or he shines shoes. On average, he takes home 30,000 Somali shillings (about US$1) a day.

"What I make from garabo and shining shoes is what I take home to help my mother feed us,” he told IRIN. Said’s father died in 2009 so the responsibility of helping his mother care for the family fell on him.

“My mother used to go to the market and do any job she could find but now she cannot even do that. She just had the baby,” he said.

There are no agencies that help the street children directly, said Hamud.

Arush’s agency is part of a child protection network in Puntland. "Unfortunately we cannot provide material support but we advocate for them and when we get information that they are in trouble we try to intervene,” Arush said.

Hamud said a lot more was needed to help the children. "First, serious assessments need to be carried out to determine the extent of the problem,” he said. Many of the older children were turning to crime. “They not only pose a security, but also a social, risk. We need to address their needs as a matter of great urgency.”

Legal intervention needed

He said Puntland should have a separate juvenile justice system to deal with child offenders. “Now, children arrested by the police end up in the same cells as adults, where they are vulnerable to abuse.”

He said those involved in child protection were trying to lobby the legislature for a Juvenile Justice Law, aimed at guaranteeing children's rights, so that children would no longer be kept in jail with adults or tried in adult courts.

“Agencies and local authorities should do everything possible to provide them with an alternative to the streets.”

Governor Ghele said the authorities had identified a site to build a home for the children but did not have the financial resources to build and operate it. "We need a lot of support if we are going to put them in safe homes," he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88351NAIROBI Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - Here are the most popular new articles on the IRIN website over the last 24 hours. Updated hourly. This feature was launched on 18 July, but will display the latest, most popular items of today.NAIROBI Friday, March 05, 2010 (IRIN) - ---http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=73277HARGEISA Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Around 1,000 families have been displaced by flooding after heavy rains in an area straddling the border between Ethiopia and the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland, according to officials.HARGEISA Wednesday, March 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Around 1,000 families have been displaced by flooding after heavy rains in an area straddling the border between Ethiopia and the self-declared independent republic of Somaliland, according to officials.

“The floods occurred in the last 24 hours. About 1,000 families were displaced, and they are with their relatives in other parts of Allaybaday and Tog-wajale districts in Gabiley region,” regional governor Said Mohamed Ahmed Aw Abdi, known as Habib, told IRIN on 3 March.

Habib said three people died in the floods which also destroyed dams used for water storage by farmers and agro-pastoralists. Hundreds of buildings in the border area, including private homes and government buildings such as customs and immigration offices have been evacuated, according to one official in the area.

“My house was about several hundred metres away from the seasonal river of Tog-Wajale, but the water reached us yesterday evening,” Wajake resident Said Abdifatah Mohamed Hassan, told IRIN by phone.

“I evacuated my three children and their mother to a relative’s family far away. While I locked the house and left, everything in the house was lost in the flood, but by Allah’s mercy we are saved,” he added.

maj/amhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88300BOSASSO Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Prolonged and persistent droughts have drastically changed the fortunes of Hujale Jama, 80. Originally from the village of Has Wanaje, 480km east of Bosasso, commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous state of Puntland, Jama was once considered fairly well-off. Then the drought slowly decimated his livestock. Today, he lives with relatives in Bosasso, without any livestock to his name. BOSASSO Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Prolonged and persistent droughts have drastically changed the fortunes of Hujale Jama, 80. Originally from the village of Has Wanaje, 480km east of Bosasso, commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous state of Puntland, Jama was once considered fairly well-off. Then the drought slowly decimated his livestock. Today, he lives with relatives in Bosasso, without any livestock to his name.

Jama is one of thousands of people in Bosaso displaced by drought who have moved to urban centres where they depend on relatives. He spoke to IRIN in Bosasso:

“Three years ago I had 600 heads of goats and sheep and more than 30 camels. I was a man of means and would be asked to help those with less. I was one of the leaders of my community and never needed help, I was the one helping.

"Nowadays, I am the one asking people for help. I have seen many people lose all their animals but I never thought I would be one of them. It is not what I expected to be doing at my age. My livestock died one by one until there was nothing left.

"Unfortunately I am not the only one suffering. Many people in this town were once herders but have since lost everything. The droughts are becoming longer and more devastating. When there was no pasture or water in our area we would move to another part of the country but all areas are now the same; no pasture no water.

"If the situation continues like this, there will be no more people left in the countryside. The young ones can adjust and maybe find something to do but what is there for an old man like me? We are almost invisible; nobody is talking about rural people who are destitute.

"Today I am sick but I don’t have the money to go to the doctor. I never thought I would depend on anyone but look at me now. I used to be a respected man but I don’t feel like a man.

"What will I do? I cannot beg at my age."

ah/mw http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88274BELETWEYNE Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Displaced and ostracized, his drug supply cut off because of conflict, Ade Sheikdon Negeye, a resident of the town of Beletweyne in central Somalia, is caught up in a cycle of suffering. He is one of 49 leprosy patients displaced from the town when fighting between two Islamist groups intensified in early February in Hiran region, central Somalia. He spoke to IRIN about his plight:BELETWEYNE Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Displaced and ostracized, his drug supply cut off because of conflict, Ade Sheikdon Negeye, a resident of the town of Beletweyne in central Somalia, is caught up in a cycle of suffering. He is one of 49 leprosy patients displaced from the town when fighting between two Islamist groups intensified in early February in Hiran region, central Somalia. He spoke to IRIN about his plight:

"Like many other patients, my life is in danger because it is now very difficult for us to access drugs or to be treated like other human beings deserving of human rights.

"But even before I got displaced, I had been without medication because aid agencies that used to supply the drugs pulled out of the region six months ago, citing insecurity.

"People with leprosy are more affected by the weather than other displaced people because the intense heat during the day and the extreme cold at night causes our wounds to fester and the skin to crack.

"Since we fled our homes we have suffered so much; our skin is damaged and cracked and, even worse, getting food has become even more difficult.

"In Beletweyne, most of us depended on well-wishers to give us food, ordinary people even helped provide bread, but here in the countryside, where we thought we had escaped fighting, our lives have become worse because people run away from us. There is this myth that people with leprosy eat human flesh; the isolation we are facing is amazing.

"The most unforgettable and heartbreaking thing is the deadly isolation; everybody we come close to runs away; even drivers we asked to help us flee Beletweyne could not - other passengers would shout at them to move on whenever we flagged down a car. This has forced many of us to trek on foot for long distances.

"For me the trekking was terrible, I kept dragging my feet until I was bleeding all over, my limbs looked like raw meat.

"One day, my family told me I could no longer sit with them under one shelter and that I could no longer sleep in the same hut as them. They dragged me out, far away from them. Since then, I have moved from trouble to trouble.

"Everywhere I go, fingers are pointed at me as if I am a criminal. I have identified one tree under which I sit when no one is around; I have made it my home since I can't rejoin my family. My people [Somalis], unsurprisingly, believe that any person suffering from this disease is a man-eater; I think this is why everyone runs away from me."

as-mshm-js/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88223JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Temperatures seem set to soar to perilously high levels because of climate change. In another 40 years, would maize still be the staple food in Kenya, already hit by five failed rainy seasons? If not, what could people grow and eat? And if you could grow maize, how much water and fertilizer would it need? JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, February 24, 2010 (IRIN) - Temperatures seem set to soar to perilously high levels because of climate change. In another 40 years, would maize still be the staple food in Kenya, already hit by five failed rainy seasons? If not, what could people grow and eat? And if you could grow maize, how much water and fertilizer would it need?

If you live in the remote semi-arid Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda - beset by 14 droughts in 25 years - you might also want to know what your options are for continued food security.

For the first time, a customized regional climate model linked to crop growing and water models, run on a supercomputer at Michigan State University (MSU), will help provide crop breeders in three East African countries - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - with detailed answers on crop yields.

Many research institutions have been working on models to predict the impact of climate change on food production in Africa, but in a few months the MSU model will help scientists and breeders to zoom in at a regional level on the possible impact of climate change on a wide variety of crops in these countries.

The research could help produce climate-resilient varieties of food crops, said Jennifer Olson, lead researcher and associate professor at MSU's College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

"East Africa is already experiencing the impact of climate change - food crops are experiencing extreme water stress," she commented. People living in Kenya's highlands, who have traditionally grown tea and coffee, have begun experimenting with maize and beans as the climate has grown warmer.

Work on the model began 10 years ago with the recording of relevant data, such as the impact of nutrients on a certain food crop, or the impact of water stress on another, which were subsequently fed into the model. "The model is still being perfected," said Olson.

The model can experiment with the impact of climate change, such as high temperature and water stress on a certain crop variety, saving the time that would have been spent on field trials, "which will help speed up the agricultural research cycle", she noted.

The researchers intend to launch the model at a workshop in June. Concern about increasing food insecurity in East Africa has prompted two institutions to set up a research grants to encourage innovative solutions.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), based in South Africa, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, announced a US$10.67 million grant from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to support the establishment of a multidisciplinary competitive funding mechanism for biosciences in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

ILRI's Bruce Scott said they would be looking for innovative solutions using bioscience to improve crop resilience to climate change, or perhaps to improve the shelf-life of a food product.

jk/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88225HARGEISA Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Officials in Somalia's self-declared independent republic of Somaliland have appealed to the international community to provide humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of people, especially children, in the wake of prolonged drought.HARGEISA Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Officials in Somalia's self-declared independent republic of Somaliland have appealed to the international community to provide humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of people, especially children, in the wake of prolonged drought.

"The affected population is estimated at about 40 percent of Somaliland's 3.5 million, which is equivalent to 1.4 million people," Ali Ibrahim, Minister for Planning and National Aid Co-ordination, told IRIN.

Following the failure of the Gu and Deyr rainy seasons in 2009, he said help was needed in water-trucking, construction and rehabilitation of boreholes, rehabilitation and desilting of dams, and the supply of medication for affected human and livestock populations to avert an outbreak of epidemics.

Ibrahim added nutritional support for the weak and sick was required.

"The situation is critical and may continue to worsen in the coming months," he said. "It requires rapid and fast responses from the international community, the business community, and humanitarian and benevolent institutions, to deliver needed humanitarian assistance and livelihood support."

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) has also raised concerns about the effects of the drought.

In a 12 February brief, [http://www.fsnau.org/fileadmin/uploads/1648.pdf] it said the Sool Plateau of Sanaag region and Togdheer agro-pastoral livelihood zones were experiencing an acute food and livelihood crisis.

"Fortunately, humanitarian access to these regions is good; therefore it is essential for agencies to extend the much-needed life-saving and/or livelihood support interventions to the population in these areas to prevent further deterioration."

Funding gaps

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Somalia), the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) - through which UN agencies and NGOs solicit funding for projects and programmes - is 5 percent funded so far, meaning "there are huge funding gaps in comparison to the needs on the ground".

Some 22 percent of the funding for FAO’s emergency support to pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in humanitarian emergency and acute food and livelihood crises had been met by 15 February 2010, according to a list of appeal projects [http://www.reliefweb.int/fts]. Of the US$11,457,500 required, the earmarked funding received so far for this project was $2,501,842, with $8,955,658 remaining unmet.

No funding had been received, by 15 February, for another $285,000 project aimed at improving crop production among poor agro-pastoralists in Sool region or for a $124,000 project to boost crop production and income generation among agro-pastoral communities in Togdheer region.

Officials of Somaliland’s Ministry of Planning and Aid Coordination and the National Environment Risk and Disaster (NERAD) have described the nutritional status of agro-pastoralists as critical.

Sa'id Ahmed, an agro-pastoralist, told IRIN on 11 February: "I come from Uubaale, just less than 15km south of Hargeisa; all the people who had cattle have lost their animals and now we are afraid that we may get contaminated by disease because of the dead animals."

A December-January assessment by NERAD found that the Gu, Karan and Heis rains were below normal, while there was no rain in eastern areas such as Sool, Sanag and Togdheer.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88123KABUL/NAIROBI Friday, February 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Continents apart, the civilian populations of Marjah, a key town in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, are steeling themselves for intense urban warfare.KABUL/NAIROBI Friday, February 12, 2010 (IRIN) - Continents apart, the civilian populations of Marjah, a key town in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, are steeling themselves for intense urban warfare.

Major offensives are being planned in both, pitting NATO and Afghan national forces against the Taliban in Marjah, and according to media reports, Somali transitional government troops against Islamist insurgent militia, including Al-Shabab, in Mogadishu.

Civilians in cities at war risk death and injury from accidental or deliberate attack, sexual or other violence, being trapped or used as shields, loss of property and forced displacement. Urban conflict is often more dangerous for civilians than rural, according to a paper commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross. [http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/violence-interne-240708].

The coming battles for Marjah and Mogadishu will test all sides’ ability to conform with humanitarian law and protect civilians.

In Afghanistan, NATO has given strong assurances that it will spare no effort to minimize the impact of military activities on civilian communities. “Our number-one objective is to protect civilians,” Todd Vician, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told IRIN on 11 February. “[The operation] is about the security of the population, not fighting down insurgent numbers,” Gordon Messenger, a spokesman for British forces in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying in a NATO statement [http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/news/british-afghan-forces-prepare-ground-for-major-helmand-offensive.html].

NATO and Afghan authorities have warned an assault is imminent - without naming a date. NATO/ISAF has launched an unprecedented media campaign ahead of the offensive; NATO commanders say the aim is to alert Marjah’s civilians to the operation and encourage insurgents to either vacate the area or lay down their arms.

In an email statement on 10 February, the Taliban also gave assurances of civilian protection in Marjah.

“The Mujahideen will not allow the enemy to win the war or cause casualties to the Mujahideen and the public,” their purported spokesman, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, was quoted as saying.

In Mogadishu, however, there have been no such assurances from Al-Shabab. Only the government has so far publicly pledged to protect civilians in the event of fighting.

"This government is committed to the protection of our people and will respect international law," government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon told IRIN on 11 February. "The government will do everything humanly possible to protect the population... government forces are under orders to respect and protect civilians."

According to Dennis McNamara, an adviser with the Geneva-based NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a major problem in civilian protection in countries such as Somalia and Afghanistan has been the absence of a credible, international and effective monitoring system to establish the extent and number of civilian casualties.

“This is a big issue that we need to flag; there is a need to have a credible international casualty registry system,” he said. “Moreover, more vigorous effort by peacekeeping troops is required, especially in civilian protection. Overall, international backing and protection [are] required in such conflicts.”

Civilian casualties

In Afghanistan, more than 2,400 civilian casualties were recorded in 2009, up from 2,118 in 2008, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2009.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/JBRN-7PCD3P-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf]

Of those, civilian deaths resulting from the Taliban’s actions increased by 41 percent in 2009, with roadside bombs and suicide attacks killing 1,054, according to UNAMA.

Civilian deaths attributed to pro-government Afghan and foreign forces were reportedly reduced due to a drop in the use of air strikes, which often produce greater collateral damage than ground operations.

Of 596 civilian deaths attributed to pro-government forces in 2009, 395 were caused by air attacks, according to UNAMA’s report.

To retake Marjah, about 15,000 Afghan and foreign forces are being deployed – a far larger number of ground troops compared with previous operations that relied heavily on air power.

NATO says it will use air support in the Marjah operation but gave assurances it would be proportionate and precise.

“Our troops take additional risks in order to avoid harm to civilians,” said ISAF spokesman Vician.

Taliban threat

The Taliban, however, have warned of their preparations, which spell further danger for civilians.

“A lot of hit-and-run attacks and ground explosions will be used [in Marjah], for which structures and initial procedures have been completed,” read the Taliban statement of 10 February.

“We have laid bombs and mines all over the area and have told people not to [leave] their homes in order for them to be safe,” Mullah Uthoman, a purported Taliban commander in Marjah, told IRIN by telephone.

The insurgents have also been accused by the UN and rights watchdogs of using civilians as human shields in their fight against Afghan and foreign forces.

Uthoman denied these charges.

NATO said it would send road-clearing teams with its forces to Marjah to defuse roadside bombs and would also take into account the issue of civilians possibly used as shields by the Taliban.

“Indiscriminate attacks”

In Somalia, "indiscriminate attacks" by warring parties had become a well-established pattern in the country's armed conflict since early 2007, according to Benedicte Goderiaux, a researcher for Amnesty International's Africa programme.

She said Mogadishu has been particularly affected by such attacks - thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, hundreds of thousands displaced by fighting, and many civilian homes destroyed.

"As the warring sides gear up towards further fighting in Mogadishu, Amnesty International calls on all parties to the conflict to cease all indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks and to take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of life and injury of civilians," she said.

Goderiaux said Amnesty was calling on all parties to the conflict to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to displaced civilians in need of aid.

The African Union Mission, AMISOM, which controls key areas of the capital, is mandated to use force only to protect government institutions and infrastructure, such as Mogadishu port and airport, and to act in self-defence [http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/AUC/Departments/PSC/AMISOM/AMISOM_Mandat_Tasks.htm]. AMISOM has denied various allegations by local and international rights groups and local community leaders of shelling civilian areas indiscriminately.

Aware of the allegations against AMISOM in Mogadishu, international partners of the AU force have strengthened efforts to improve firing discipline among Ugandan and Burundian troops on the ground, Lt Col Gabriel Rousselle, commander of French troops training and supporting Ugandan AMISOM peacekeepers, told IRIN in Uganda. Two ongoing training programmes conducted by France, the US and UK are putting battle-groups through rigorous firing-range training and teaching new tactics to reduce the threat of collateral damage.

Rousselle also said troops were being trained in urban warfare simulations that involved cordon-and-seizure tactics in an environment mimicking the narrow streets and alleys of Mogadishu. Exercises under way at the Ugandan People's Defence Force camp in Singo, northwest of the capital Kampala, demand a focused, unit-based approach to urban warfare that French trainers insist is delivering results.

Preparing for battle

Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization, told IRIN on 11 February: "There is a feeling of impending doom across the city. Both sides have been beating the war drums. Those who have not already left are leaving the city."

Yassin claimed it was only a matter of time before full-scale war broke out. Whenever there was fighting in the city, civilians suffered the most, he said.

"Indiscriminate shelling has been the biggest problem for the civilians. The sides to the conflict don’t make a distinction between civilian areas and military targets," Yassin said.

He said there was a lack of respect and understanding for the laws of war. "There is a complete disregard for international humanitarian law on all sides."

Yassin said war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed in Mogadishu in the past "and it won't be different this time. The only question is how bad will it be and will anything be done about it.

"Protection of civilians is the last thing the fighting groups think about. They will do anything and everything to get the upper hand."

He urged the fighting parties to protect innocent civilians and create "safe zones".

A local journalist said government forces had been reinforcing their positions in preparation. "They look more organized and disciplined than ever before."

He said Al-Shabab had also been bringing forces from central and southern Somalia in anticipation of the offensive.

Attempts by IRIN to contact Al-Shabab were unsuccessful.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88080NAIROBI Tuesday, February 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Community leaders in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, are filling the gaps in aid distribution by raising funds to assist thousands displaced by fighting, leaders said.NAIROBI Tuesday, February 09, 2010 (IRIN) - Community leaders in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, are filling the gaps in aid distribution by raising funds to assist thousands displaced by fighting, leaders said.

"We started last week and we did it because we see the plight of the displaced every day," Sheikh Abdifatah Aweys, a religious leader, told IRIN on 9 February. "For now we are addressing the most pressing problem, and that is water."

Aweys said their efforts were not meant to replace aid agencies who were absent on the ground at present: "We know we cannot cover everything, so we are doing what we can. These are our people and our religion dictates that you help those less fortunate."

Aweys said the group went around Bakara market collecting donations from the business community and had set up billboards showing the poor living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

"People have been amazing; even those with little contribute," he said.

The group has so far helped about 8,500 [51,000 people] families with water.

"I know it is not much given the number of displaced inside and outside the city but it is a start and we will redouble our efforts," Aweys said.

Extending aid

A civil society source, who requested anonymity, told IRIN that due to insecurity, international aid agencies had little access to IDPs but that local groups could move around more easily.

Mohamed Mahamud, a businessman who is part of the group, told IRIN they had decided not to wait for outside help "while our brothers and sisters are suffering".

He added: "We don't have to wait and say we don’t have much. Every little thing helps."

Mahamud said if the contributions continued, they would address other needs, such as food and medicine.

Abdullahi Salad, a displaced person and one of the beneficiaries, told IRIN his camp had depended on water trucking by an international aid agency but this had stopped in January.

"Since 1 January, we have not had any water until this local group started delivering it five days ago," Salad said.

He said that Bashi camp, with more than 600 families, had received regular water deliveries over the past five days.

Aweys said they had funds to deliver water to the camps for 20 days. "I am hopeful that we will get more donations from Somalis to continue and expand [distribution]."

He said his group was not affiliated with any of the forces fighting in Mogadishu.

New offensive rumoured

Mogadishu has been a battleground for troops loyal to the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and two Islamist armed opposition groups, including the militant Al-Shabab group, which controls much of the south and centre of the country.

Meanwhile, people continue to flee Mogadishu due to fears of renewed clashes, according to the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization.

Ali Sheikh Yassin, the deputy chairman, told IRIN many more people were leaving the city because of reports that the government was about to start a new offensive against the insurgents.

"There have been troop movements on both sides and we are all waiting for this new offensive to begin," he said. “It is fear that is driving the current exodus."

ah/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88047NAIROBI Monday, February 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A bomb explosion was the last thing Abdiqani Sheikh Omar, 26, expected on his graduation day, after six years of studying medicine at Somalia's Benadir University in the capital, Mogadishu.NAIROBI Monday, February 08, 2010 (IRIN) - A bomb explosion was the last thing Abdiqani Sheikh Omar, 26, expected on his graduation day, after six years of studying medicine at Somalia's Benadir University in the capital, Mogadishu.

"It was a beautiful day, not too hot and [with] a very blue, clear sky," Omar told IRIN on 8 February. “I was so excited that I could not sleep the night before; I wanted it to be morning so I could graduate and celebrate with my friends. We had gone through six years of very hard work and times."

Halfway through the ceremony on 3 December 2009, a blast [link: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87309] ripped through the venue, killing students, lecturers and guests. The suicide bomber was said to be allied to the Islamist Al-Shabab group although Al-Shabab later denied responsibility.

Survivors’ network

Several graduates who survived the blast vowed to continue the work of their dead colleagues. "On that day they killed our friends and professors but not our spirits," said Omar.

The surviving graduates, along with others who graduated from colleges in Sudan and Yemen, formed the Somali Young Doctors’ Association (SOYDA) and have since started delivering healthcare to thousands of people who would otherwise have none.

Abdirizaq Yusuf, a member of SOYDA, said: “We have decided that once a week we will visit the camps for the displaced around the city [Mogadishu.] We started on Friday [3 December] with the Lafoole IDP camps.”

Yusuf said they were doing the voluntary work for three reasons. “First, it is in remembrance of our fallen friends and professors; it is also a way of telling those behind the attack that we will continue no matter what, and thirdly, our people need our help.”

He said the people they helped were least likely to have access to healthcare. “They are either too poor to go to doctors and hospitals or too weak to go anywhere.”

On their first visit, Yusuf said, 10 doctors, accompanied by nurses and technicians, treated at least 400 people. Yusuf said their aim was to visit the entire displaced population - in and out of the city.

Too poor

Dahabo Hassan, 40, a displaced mother of six, was one of those who benefited from the doctors’ visit. She told IRIN three of her children were sick but she could not take them to hospital or to see a doctor.

“I cannot afford to take them to a doctor; I don’t even have the bus fare to the hospitals in Mogadishu,” she said.

She said many people in the Hilaal camp near the town of Afgoye, 300km south of Mogadishu and home to some 580 families, were like her. “I don’t know of anyone who can afford a doctor,” she said, adding: “I hope they continue coming.”

Omar said of the 400 patients they saw, most were children.

“Most of the children under five were suffering from respiratory tract infections and malnutrition, while those between five and 15 were suffering mainly from skin diseases, due to the terrible sanitation and hygiene conditions in the camps," Omar said. “Most adults we saw were suffering from hypertension, diabetes and urinary tract infections."

The displaced were living in appalling conditions, he said. "They [camps] are overcrowded, with very little water." Food, especially for small children, was another problem.

Omar said there were no aid agencies on the ground due to insecurity. "It is a very difficult environment," he said.

He said SOYDA would not be deterred and would continue its work.

"I had a very good professor, Dr Shahid [who died in the blast] who taught me perseverance; he never left Mogadishu when others went to safer and greener pastures. We all want to follow his example."

Omar said other Somalis, especially those in the diaspora, were welcome to join their group "in any capacity. This is about helping people, it does not matter where you are."
Related story: Sakhaudin Ahmed, "my happiest day turned into a nightmare"
[http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=87362]


ah/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88033NAIROBI Thursday, February 04, 2010 (IRIN) - A new project seeks to harness the skills of Somali expatriates in the development of their homeland by sending them on short-term capacity-building assignments in key public institutions in Somalia.NAIROBI Thursday, February 04, 2010 (IRIN) - A new project seeks to harness the skills of Somali expatriates in the development of their homeland by sending them on short-term capacity-building assignments in key public institutions in Somalia.

The QUESTS-MIDA http://www.quests-mida.org (Qualified Expatriate Somali Technical Support-Migration for Development in Africa) project is an initiative of the UN Development Programme and the International Office for Migration.

It supports key Somali public institutions and its strategic priorities are: policy and legislative development; human resource management; and public financial management. All assignments must contribute to gender equality.
An estimated one million Somalis live outside their country, mostly in Europe and the USA. Some are highly skilled professionals.

ah/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87989NAIROBI Wednesday, February 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Violence in the central Somali region of Galgadud has made "it hard, if not impossible, for humanitarian workers" to reach those in need of help, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says.NAIROBI Wednesday, February 03, 2010 (IRIN) - Violence in the central Somali region of Galgadud has made "it hard, if not impossible, for humanitarian workers" to reach those in need of help, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says.

"Many [displaced people] are reported to be sleeping in the open with dwindling shelter and little water," Roberta Russo, UNHCR Somalia spokeswoman, said on 3 February

"There are also growing concerns about the health of particularly vulnerable groups such as children, women and the elderly," she said.

Fighting between various groups in central Somalia and in Mogadishu escalated in January, displacing an estimated 80,000 people.

At least 29,000 fled Dusamareb in Galgadud, while 25,000 fled renewed clashes in Beled Weyne in Hiraan, UNHCR said. Both regions are in central Somalia.

In Mogadishu, where at least 18,000 have fled ongoing clashes, most of those affected had returned to the city, thinking it was more peaceful. However, on 31 January “parts of the city experienced some of the most intense shelling we have seen in a long time," said Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization (EHRO).

The worst-hit Mogadishu areas included Huriwa, Yaqshiid in the north and Dayniile (northwest). "Many of those who fled had returned from camps thinking that the situation was better," he said.

“Inhuman”

Fadumo Mahamud, who fled her home in the Suuqa Hoolaha area of Huriwa District on 1 February, said she left after shelling continued for one and half hours.

"The shelling was so bad," she told IRIN from an IDP camp on the outskirts of the city. "It was hitting everywhere. This was the second time I had fled my home; what they did on Sunday [31 January] was inhuman."

Leyla Abdi, who fled her home in Yaqshiid District after a shell landed on her neighbour’s home, said: "The mother and her six children were killed instantly. I simply had to take my children away."

The fighting, EHRO’s Yassin said, now seemed to have spread in south and central Somalia. "What is happening in Beled Weyne and Dusamareb is between a new force Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama [a moderate Islamist group], Al-Shabab and Hsibul Islam," he said.

A local journalist in Dusamareb, who requested anonymity, said very few displaced civilians had returned to the town. Both Al-Shabab and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama were reportedly preparing for "all out war", he said.

Displaced civilians, he said, were facing serious shortages of water.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87977ABUDA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Mohamed Olhaye Nour, 60, last cultivated his farm in Abuda, 24km southwest of Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, more than two decades ago. ABUDA Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Mohamed Olhaye Nour, 60, last cultivated his farm in Abuda, 24km southwest of Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, more than two decades ago.

"Before the war, our life was good; we did not worry about making ends meet," he said. "In an average year, our crop production was about 40-50 `jawan’ (one `jawan’ = 100kg sack of maize and sorghum mixed together).

"We kept 15-20 `jawan’ in reserve. We used the remainder in different ways, such as for bread, 'African cake' [maize meal] eaten with milk, or sorghum with milk."

Nour, who has two wives and 17 children, stopped cultivating his land because it "is full of mines". Two people who ventured onto the land got injured - one losing both arms. Nour has also lost 36 livestock to the mines.

Most of the unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Abuda was planted during the 1977-78 war between Somalia and Ethiopia, according to local residents. Some is from the 1981-91 war between the Somali National Movement and the Somali National Army.

According to Nour, many residents of Abuda were agro-pastoralists before these wars. Most fled to Ethiopia when clashes first broke out. When they returned in 1991, they found their farmland had been mined. Now they mostly survive as livestock keepers.

Experts in the self-declared republic say more than 250,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance, including anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, are buried in Somaliland.

UXO is scattered across northwestern Somalia, from Elayo to Loyada and from Bihen to Gestir.

Demining

Over the years, farmers wrote many letters to the Somaliland government requesting that the Abuda area be demined, Nour said. In 2009, the UK-based organization HALO Trust started demining farmland in this area.

Hargeisa, according to HALO, was heavily mined around military bases, refugee camps, private houses and the airport. The war between Ethiopia and Somalia also left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance.

Some explosives have, unfortunately, been harvested from mines for illegal reuse. This is particularly the case with anti-vehicle mines and explosive ordnance. Another problem is that most mines in Somaliland are plastic-bodied, making them difficult to locate using conventional demining equipment, according to HALO.

"We started demining operations in this area [Abuda] in early November 2009 after we received complaints from residents," said Hassan Kosar, operations officer for HALO in Hargeisa. "We hope to finish in early May 2010, if we have adequate manpower capacity."

Two other mine clearance institutions now exist in Somaliland - the Mine Action Center and the National Demining Agency.

HALO is currently supporting the National Demining Agency to expand mine-clearing operations, because the Somaliland government's budget for demining institutions is limited.

"This is the first time a local institution is going to engage in mine clearance operations in Somaliland after HALO Trust trains 40 deminers for us," said Mohamed Were, operations officer for the Somaliland National Demining Agency. "[But] our problem is lack of funds."

At least eight hectares owned by 95 families in the Abuda area were mined, as well as several hectares further to the north.

"I have not cultivated my farm since 1988 but now that demining is going on, I hope the clearing of our farms will be completed before the rains come," Nour told IRIN.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87953NAIROBI Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Somalia has one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, with up to 240,000 children under five affected, according to an early warning report published on I February by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FAO/FSNAU) and FEWSNET.NAIROBI Tuesday, February 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Somalia has one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, with up to 240,000 children under five affected, according to an early warning report published on 1 February http://www.fsnau.org/fileadmin/uploads/1642.pdf by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FAO/FSNAU) and FEWSNET.

The report comes as Mogadishu residents say the humanitarian situation has deteriorated.

"I honestly cannot remember when things have been so bad; it is as if all the negative things are coming together at one time," civil society activist Asha Sha'ur said. "If the situation - both security and humanitarian - does not improve soon, we will be looking at a far worse situation than Somalia has ever faced."

Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization (EHRO), said many business people had fled the city due to increasing insecurity.

"These were the people who used to create jobs," he said.

"It was not much but it allowed many displaced poor people to supplement what little aid they got. Now that is not possible."

More than two-thirds of malnourished children were in south-central Somalia, the report said.

"Although we are seeing some positive indicators in terms of the lifting of the livestock export ban and improved crop and livestock production in southern parts... the food security and nutrition situation in central regions remains in crisis, where 70 percent of the population require assistance," said Grainne Moloney, FSNAU's interim chief technical adviser for Somalia.

Severely malnourished

One in six children was acutely malnourished and in need of specialist care. "One in 22 is severely malnourished and at a nine times increased risk of death compared to well nourished children," the report said.

In south-central Somalia, which has seen significant clashes between Islamist insurgents and government forces, one in five children were acutely malnourished, it said.

Civil society activist Sha'ur told IRIN that high food prices, lack of employment opportunities and reduced humanitarian aid had contributed to the crisis. A 50kg bag of maize which was selling for the equivalent of US$12 two months ago was now going for $30, she said.

EHRO’s Yassin said the situation in the city had deteriorated in the last two weeks. "We had a few weeks when some people actually returned to their homes from the camps, but that has now been reversed by fighting in the past week."

Up to 45 people had been killed and at least 152 injured in fighting between government forces and insurgents in the last week, he said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87962NAIROBI Monday, February 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The international community should draw up a comprehensive strategy to tackle conflicts fuelled by natural resources especially in fragile African states, US campaign group Global Witness says.NAIROBI Monday, February 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The international community should draw up a comprehensive strategy to tackle conflicts fuelled by natural resources especially in fragile African states, UK campaign group Global Witness says.

"Taking the gun out of natural resource management is a prerequisite for taking the gun out of politics," the advocacy group said in a report entitled Lessons Unlearned: How the UN and member states must do more to end natural resource-fuelled conflict.

"Too often the political, ethnic or geographic aspects of war are considered to the exclusion of its economic drivers... In countries like the DRC, natural resources must be recognised not only as part of the problem but also as an essential part of the solution to conflict.," said Mike Davis of Global Witness.

Among other recommendations, the report calls for UN peacekeepers to be mandated to deal with the economic dimensions of conflict. "The problem with natural resources is not so much the nature of resources themselves, their abundance or their scarcity, but how they are governed, who is able to access them and for what purposes," it says.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87949HAIRGEISA Friday, January 29, 2010 (IRIN) - The latest bomb explosion in Somalia's self-declared independent republic of Somaliland raises concerns over the lack of government presence in the Las-anod area, says an analyst.HAIRGEISA Friday, January 29, 2010 (IRIN) - The latest bomb explosion in Somalia's self-declared independent republic of Somaliland raises concerns over the lack of government presence in the Las-anod area, says an analyst.

Among those injured in the blast, which killed one person and injured five on 28 January, was the governor of Sool region, Askar Farah Hussein, who was admitted to a hospital in the town of Las-anod.

Commenting on the bombings that have hit the region since October 2009, Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin told reporters: "I have heard the opposition accusing the government of being behind the bombs; this is unfortunate, the government is investigating, but we need to know that the enemy wants [to stage] more attacks against Somaliland..."

The latest incident brings to five the bombings since October 2009 in Las-anod, capital of a region in contention between Somaliland and Puntland. Las-anod is part of Sool and Sanag region, to which the governments of Somaliland and Puntland both lay claim.

According to EJ Hogendoorn, the International Crisis Group's Horn of Africa Project Director, the Somaliland government is strong enough to get the situation under control in Las-anod "but the problem is that there is minimal government presence in the area".

"The area remains largely unadministered by both Puntland and Somaliland," Hogendoorn said, adding that the region is inhabited mainly by the Dhulbahante clan, which has family ties to the ruling Harti clan in Puntland.

"The Sool and Sanag region is disputed by both Puntland and Somaliland for several reasons; the Dhulbahante are unhappy with both Puntland and Somaliland, and Islamist radicals have taken advantage of this to try to cause instability in the area," Hogendoorn said. "Moreover, it is likely that there are significant oil deposits in Sool and Sanag, so both governments lay claim to the region."

Fomenting instability

Hogendoorn said it appeared the violence was inspired by Islamist elements among the Dhulbahante that are sympathetic to Al-Shabab, the main Islamist group that has been waging war against the government in Somalia.

"The interest of these Islamist elements is to foment instability. What is clear is that they have links with Al-Shabab in south and central Somalia," he said. "There is a similar dynamic going in Puntland, where the Islamist radicals have also targeted government officials in the past."

However, Hogendoorn said analysts did not have any evidence that the bombings in Las-anod were orchestrated by Al-Shabab.

"There are a lot of Islamist groups in the whole of Somalia; it is difficult to speculate whether or not Al-Shabab is behind the latest incidents," he said. "The best course of action would be for the Somaliland government to improve security in and around its installations in Las-anod and to have more presence on the ground."

Police Commissioner Mohamed Saqadhi Dubad told IRIN that 23 arrests had been made in relation to the incidents and that investigations were ongoing to establish those behind the attacks.

"We consider the suspects [to be] coming from our enemy who don't like our stability; of course they are external enemies," Dubad said, declining to give any names.

On 26 January 2010, Dubad said, reports were made to police that a suspect package had been seen in Las-anod. The police collected the package but it turned out to be a remote-controlled bomb and it went off, killing two soldiers, Dubad said.

On 14 January, unknown armed men shot dead the Las-anod police commissioner minutes after he left a mosque.

Mohamed Abdi Dhimbil, the deputy governor of Sool, said: "A few days ago, unknown people threw hand grenades at a police station in the south, injuring three policemen."

In late October 2009, an army commander and another official were killed following a bomb explosion.

Dubad said: "Most of the incidents involved remote-controlled bombs, but more than 23 suspects, including officials from Somaliland, have been arrested and they will be on trial soon.

"We captured some explosive material in Hargeisa after a woman in the area notified us that a man had placed what looked like explosive elements on the road near Hawadle Mosque," Dubad said. "One man was arrested over the incident."

The bombings have caused fear and alarm among the public.

"Nowadays Somaliland security is fragile because you can see everywhere there are incidents taking place; for this reason we consider the government could be losing control of national security and we are worried," said Mohamed Farah Qabile, a member of the Lower House of Parliament from the Kulmiye opposition party.

Mohamed Hashi Elmi, a former minister of commerce, said the government should explain to people who was responsible for the explosions.

Security priority

On 17 January, Vice-President Ahmed Yusuf Yasin announced that national security would be given “the highest priority” in 2010.

Police commissioner Dubad said security for international aid staff would also be improved to facilitate access to many parts of Somaliland.

"We are improving security measures for international staff of aid organizations … because our enemy is targeting international aid workers as well as other foreign citizens who are helping our people in sectors such as education and health," Dubad said.

He added that police would provide security for aid workers undertaking missions in various parts of the country, "even in their homes”.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87918NAIROBI Thursday, January 28, 2010 (IRIN) - Galkayo Hospital in northern Somalia, once a large, fully equipped referral facility, has fallen into a shadow of its former self since the collapse of the central government in 1991, according to medical staff. NAIROBI Thursday, January 28, 2010 (IRIN) - Galkayo Hospital in northern Somalia, once a large, fully equipped referral facility, has become a shadow of its former self since the collapse of the central government in 1991, according to medical staff.

"The hospital is for all practical purposes closed. We have nothing. It lacks basic equipment to treat even small injuries," Abdullahi Hirsi Jestro, a doctor, told IRIN.

Jestro and other medical staff have started a campaign to re-open the hospital.

It is the only public health facility in north Galkayo, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, he said, adding that the most needy were now unable to access medical care.

There are several private clinics in the town but they are beyond the financial reach of most, he said. "Almost 90 percent cannot afford to go to a private clinic," he said.

The campaign, Jestro added, aimed to help the most vulnerable in the town - "displaced women, children and elderly and the very poor. Those are the ones this hospital is meant to help," he told IRIN.

The operating theatre is just one of the facilities in the 70-bed hospital that needs to be re-equipped. "Almost all departments from the children's wing to the maternity ward need [supplies]," said Maimun Farah, the hospital director.

"We don’t even have IV fluid," she said. The doctors were there "but without the proper equipment and the medicines, they are useless”.

She urged international aid agencies to help. "We need all the help we can get, particularly in the provision of the more expensive equipment and supplies."

Jestro said the hospital buildings were in fair shape and most of the local doctors were committed to offering their services. "All we need now is to raise funds for the equipment, the drugs and the general staff."

The town's business community has pledged to help but that was not enough. "We are appealing to our brothers and sisters in the diaspora to contribute generously to this endeavour."

Increased insecurity

Galkayo, which is home to thousands of displaced people, has in the past few months suffered increased insecurity, with a rise in explosions and fatalities, blamed by locals on the displaced who have fled fighting to seek refuge in the town.

Halimo Jama, 45, went to the hospital seeking help. She had a miscarriage, which led to severe bleeding. "I have nowhere else to go. I cannot afford a private doctor, so I came here."

She said the doctors had examined her but now she had to look for the medicine. “I don’t know how I will find the money.”

The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.

ah/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87905NAIROBI Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (IRIN) - In the year since Mehmoud Hassan arrived in Nairobi from Baidoa in southern Somalia, he says he has been arrested more than 10 times by the Kenyan police and paid more than US$300 in fines to secure his release. His crime, says the 29-year-old former civil society activist, was being a Somali national in a city increasingly hostile to the flood of refugees from the battered Horn of Africa state.NAIROBI Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (IRIN) - In the year since Mehmoud Hassan arrived in Nairobi from Baidoa in southern Somalia, he says he has been arrested more than 10 times by the Kenyan police and paid more than US$300 in fines to secure his release. His crime, says the 29-year-old former civil society activist, was being a Somali national in a city increasingly hostile to the flood of refugees from the battered Horn of Africa state.

Even this cycle of arrest and release failed to prepare Hassan for his latest encounter with the police. He and his 80-year-old grandmother were among more than 2,000 people - including Somali members of parliament in Nairobi for a meeting - who were rounded up in a week of raids and arrests following a 15 January protest against the detention and subsequent deportation of a radical Islamist cleric by the Kenyan government. Muslim human rights activists claimed five people were killed in the demonstration while the government has limited the official death toll to one.

A spokeswoman for the Internal Security Ministry, who declined to be identified, told IRIN the raids were a direct result of the “threat posed by the foreigners. The riots were not caused by citizens of this country, but by the foreign extremists.”

Despite holding identification papers issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Hassan and his grandmother were held for two days as illegal migrants, and released only after paying a substantial sum to the police.

“They said I was Al-Shabab [insurgents fighting the Somali government]. But I was not even at the demonstration! What happened was wrong; we are hosted here by this government and yet the government of Kenya targeted us,” said Hassan. “There is a rank hostility towards the Somali people and we are feeling hunted here.”

Many of those arrested were in fact ethnic Somali citizens of Kenya, which shares a long border with Somalia.

“I am a Kenyan but that did not matter because I am a Somali; it is very unfair to be treated like that in your own country," said a tea-seller, who asked to be identified only as Halimo. "Why don't they arrest others who look like Somalis? We are being singled out. I can understand the police arresting people who break the law but I am only a single mother trying to make a living yet I was treated like a criminal.”

Another Kenyan Somali said: "It is a fact that Eastleigh has become a huge business conglomerate, with Kenyan Somalis being the majority owners of the buildings in the area. This has prompted jealousy and business rivalry from non-Somali business operators and they would like nothing else than to see the Somalis' expansion curtailed.”

In response to such widespread and well-publicised accusations of malfeasance by his men, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere insisted that “any officer who engages in unethical or unprofessional behaviour during these operations will face stern disciplinary action”.

He said more than 1,000 illegal immigrants had been detained and would now “be dealt with according to the law”, insisting that “no community, race, faith or nationality had been targeted”.

He conceded, however, that “some innocent people have been inconvenienced”.

Sowing discord

Although the violence that swept Nairobi after disputed 2007 presidential polls was largely confined to long-standing animosity between ethnic groups, there is a growing sense – corroborated by security analysts – that the government is fomenting hostility against the comparatively well-to-do migrants to deflect attention from its own failings in the run-up to 2012 elections.

“Most Kenyans are really quite frustrated that nothing has changed [since the 2007 elections]; the government is still engaging in the same repressive action, the security machinery is unchanged, and people are fundamentally worse off financially,” said Deborah Osiro, a Kenyan researcher with the Institute for Security Studies.

“So the government is using [Kenyan] frustration to possibly take advantage, to cultivate resentment against a population that is perceived as doing well, to deflect responsibility for their failures to really change the status quo.”

That open hostility manifests itself both overtly, in police harassment, and covertly, in the disregard for maintaining public infrastructure and utilities in the predominantly Somali neighbourhood of Eastleigh in eastern Nairobi.

“Eastleigh is the fastest growing and one of the most thriving neighbourhoods in Nairobi and that is annoying Kenyans, who are trying to maintain their commercial and economic footholds but are unable to do so,” said Osiro. “And they see the Somalis pricing them out of the lower or middle-income real estate market and wonder how refugees can be doing better financially than their hosts. Of course there are deeper influences at play here, but it’s easy to blame the stranger – something that seems entirely new for Kenya.”

Extremes at play

Though far from being the only neighbourhood in the capital to suffer power outages, water shortages or irregular rubbish collection, Eastleigh has its own particular travails. The visible wealth of the commercial sector is in sharp contrast with its decrepit surroundings.

Soaring above zinc-roofed market stalls are well-constructed multi-storied buildings with sweeping staircases that connect small apartments to storefronts. The roads are virtually impassable, rutted with potholes and crowded with minibuses and gleaming SUVs emblazoned with Arabic slogans. There is no road drainage and passers-by dodge mounds of rubbish on nearly every street corner, weaving around lorries unloading merchandise from dry goods to tyres and electronics.

There are no public clinics in Eastleigh, few state-run schools and men still ply the roads with carts filled with jerry cans of water, to supplement the inconsistent municipal supplies. Such neglect is grating for Abdisak, who asked that his surname not be used. After fleeing Mogadishu in 2007, he has run a small dry goods shop in Eastleigh, supporting a family that includes a young son.

“We pay taxes, lots of taxes, to the city council and other authorities, but when we ask for simple repairs to our roads, or to the sewers, they say no,” he said. “And when the Somali business community asked to be allowed to rebuild the roads ourselves, with our own money, they said no. We are at the mercy of gangs, who extort money from us, and of the police, who collect fines.”

For Mohammed Ali Mukhtar, the raids following the mosque protest only heightened a feeling that has been brewing within him for several months: even though home is not safe, at least the danger is a known quantity. He is making plans to return to his home in Galkayo, in central Somalia, before the 2012 vote.

“We came here because it was supposed to be safer than at home,” he said. “But if they are attacking us now, when there is no reason to do so, what is going to happen with the elections when they have political motivation?”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87891DAKAR Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (IRIN) - Health experts hope the release of data showing the success of rotavirus vaccine will help compel policymakers to ensure all children will be immunized. DAKAR Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (IRIN) - Health experts hope the release of data showing the success of rotavirus vaccine will help compel policymakers to ensure all children will be immunized.

Rotavirus – the top cause of severe and often fatal diarrhoea and dehydration in children – kills some 527,000 children a year globally, nearly half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

“It is our hope that these data will catalyze action so that one day we can live in a world where no child dies from diarrhoea,” Kathy Neuzil, senior clinical advisor for vaccines at the international health non-profit PATH, said in a 27 January statement.

Published on 27 January in the New England Journal of Medicine, results from first-ever clinical trials in South Africa and Malawi show that a live, oral rotavirus vaccine significantly reduces the episodes of severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in African children during the first year of life.

The data “provide policymakers with the critical information they need to make decisions about rotavirus vaccine introduction,” George Armah, professor and rotavirus expert at Ghana’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, said.

The trial results led the World Health Organization in June 2009 to recommend global use of the vaccine.

The Africa trials focused on the vaccine’s performance in high mortality, low-income settings, according to a 27 January communiqué by PATH and GAVI Alliance.

Health experts point out that while rotavirus infection in treatable, it has devastating and deadly impact in rural and poor areas where people cannot access medical care. “Vaccines represent the best hope for preventing the severe consequences of rotavirus infection,” Nigel Culiffe of University of Liverpool said in statement.

The trials were coordinated and co-funded through a partnership between GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and the GAVI Alliance-funded Rotavirus Vaccine Trials Partnership – PATH, WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

np/ajhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87899NAIROBI Monday, January 25, 2010 (IRIN) - Mogadishu residents have welcomed plans by the interim government to step up the integration of an earlier, ousted, regime's security forces into its own army. NAIROBI Monday, January 25, 2010 (IRIN) - Mogadishu residents have welcomed plans by the interim government to step up the integration of an earlier, ousted, regime's security forces into its own army.

"People are fed up and are tired of the daily attacks and miserable living conditions in the camps [for the internally displaced]; the insurgents enjoy very little, if any, support," a local journalist told IRIN. "The population will support any plan that may get them back into their homes."

In the past, said Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, Minister of Interior in the Transitional Federal Government, forces of the former President Abdullahi Yusuf and those of the Islamic courts [ousted in December 2006] operated in different commands, "even though they were supposed to be one. What we are now doing is to make sure that there is only one command structure and one cohesive force," he told IRIN on 25 January.

He said the forces' integration was part of an all-out mobilization to get a grip on the security situation in the city and the country at large.

"By the time we finish, there will be an effective force that will deal with and defeat the anti-peace elements," Omar said.

He said there would be no chance that Al-Shabab or any other group would be able to infiltrate the force. "We know who the Islamic court forces are and there will be no possibility that someone from Al-Shabab will infiltrate."

The militant Al-Shabab group is one of two insurgents that has been waging war against government troops in Mogadishu and in parts of southern and central Somalia.

A civil society source in Mogadishu, who requested anonymity, told IRIN the government had to move with speed to reorganize its forces.

"What we now have is a combination of two forces that don’t work well together," the source said, adding that the government needed not only to find a way of integrating the two but removing criminal elements within them. "There have been numerous complaints by civilians that people within the government forces were committing crimes."

Mogadishu has been experiencing daily attacks and fighting between government forces and the insurgents, leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

Training force

At the same time, the European Union (EU) announced it would train 2,000 members of the Somali security forces in Uganda.

However, the civil society source said the offer, although welcome, was not enough. "That kind of force will not be enough if they are to subdue the insurgents and take full control of the country."

Interior Minister Omar said the government welcomed the offer. "We will take full advantage of it," he added.

Omar said the government saw regaining full control over Mogadishu as a top priority. "I cannot give you an exact date but I am confident that we will regain full control of the city."

Previous attempts by transitional governments to secure Mogadishu have failed.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87862MOGADISHU Thursday, January 21, 2010 (IRIN) - As conflict continues in Somalia, the main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, lacks orthopedic specialists to handle the increasing number of patients with broken limbs, a doctor has said. MOGADISHU Thursday, January 21, 2010 (IRIN) - As conflict continues in Somalia, the main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, lacks orthopedic specialists to handle the increasing number of patients with broken limbs, a doctor has said.

"Currently, the patients with the most serious injuries are mostly young; 30 of them require specialized treatment that is not available in the country," Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital, told IRIN. "Since 2009, we have seen hundreds of patients requiring orthopedic treatment but very few of them can afford specialized treatment; 98 percent of the patients are too poor."

Mogadishu has borne the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, which pits an opposition Islamist group against government troops. The country has been conflict-ridden since 1991 when President Siad Barre was ousted. Although a transitional government is in place, fighting continues in Mogadishu as well as in southern and central parts of the country.

Yusuf said 95 percent of the patients treated in Madina were victims of gunshots and artillery shelling. Of these, he said, 45 percent have limb injuries; 9 percent have chest wounds, 8 percent head injuries and 8 percent stomach injuries.

"We treat and sometimes operate on those with stomach wounds but injuries of the legs are problematic to treat here because we don't have an experienced orthopedic doctor to reconstruct broken bones," Yusuf said. "The most difficult cases involve injuries where a bullet hit the bone, causing fragmentation. Reconstruction using special metal is required but at the moment we do not have a doctor specializing in this sector in the country."

Yusuf said the International Committee of the Red Cross was the main agency supporting Madina and supplying medicine but the availability of specialist doctors remained a challenge: "The only foreign doctors here are from Qatar, working in the maternity sector."

At the same time, Yusuf said the number of injured children was increasing. Most of them, he said, were victims of mortar shelling and since there was no orthopedic expertise available locally, many ended up becoming disabled.

Habiba Ahmed, 41, mother of a nine-year-old boy with spinal injuries, told IRIN: "My child has been suffering for almost four months now, parts of his bones are missing; he was injured when a mortar hit our home. I have come to Madina Hospital for him to be treated but I am told he requires treatment outside the country, which I cannot afford. My child remains disabled."

A report [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7ZW284?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=som] released by Amnesty International on 21 January says indiscriminate attacks in 2009 by all parties to the armed conflict resulted in thousands of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.

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