Southern Somalia Singed By Drought - 60% Of Cattle Already Dead - AFP [View All]

Already torn by perennial factional conflicts since plunging into political turmoil more than a decade ago, a severe drought currently ravaging parts of southern Somalia is threatening the lives of millions of war-bruised people.

Two seasons of failed rains have hit the mainly pastoralist communities here hard, and officials estimate that about 60 percent of cattle have died, while some people have been forced to drink their urine as the drought intensifies. "If it rains in April, then there will be some hope," said Xavier Duboc of French aid group Action Contre la Faim (AICF). "If it does not rain, I do not have the words to describe the situation," he added.

According to UN estimates, some two million people in Somalia have been affected by the drought, which is also ravaging parts Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti and up to 11 million people are on the verge of starvation in all the four countries. "The situation is more worrying (in Somalia) because of the 15 years of conflict in a country that has lacked central government," said Pascal Hundt, head of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in Somalia. Residents of Dinsor, an hamlet in the southern Bay region, are facing acute water shortage with several wells dried up and river beds strewn with putrefying cattle carcases that fill the dry air with pungent smell. "It is a big drought although people have not died, but it is nothing compared to 1991-1992 when 10 people were dying per day," said Abdihafid Sheik Hussein, a clan official.

Severe food shortage is yet to be felt in the region, according to officials and residents who say they are bracing for the effects of a prolonged drought should the expected rains fail again. "There is no famine yet, but all the indications are that there will be one," Duboc said.

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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/War_Ravaged_Somalia_In_Conflict_With_Severe_Drought.html