Years of brutal conflict, the breakdown of governmental authority and infrastructure in most of the country, poor communications and recurrent natural disasters have made Somalia a permanent priority for humanitarian action since the early 1990s.
The ICRC, present in the country since 1977, works with the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to ensure assistance for communities in all areas. Hundreds of thousands of people were assisted in 2006.
Drought (December 2005- July 2006)
The drought which struck the Horn of Africa at the end of 2005 had serious consequences for the rural population, particularly in southern regions of Somalia, north-eastern Kenya and south-east Ethiopia.
In Somalia, an estimated one-and-a-half million people were directly affected. The early signs of a major problem looming before the next harvest were the early and large-scale migration of nomad groups and livestock owners in search of fresh grazing lands and the shortage of pasture and available drinking water. The loss of livestock, particularly cattle, was high and many families seemed set to lose all their animals.
Assessments made in severely affected areas by the ICRC from December 2005 onwards confirmed the early warning signs and revealed a big drop in livestock prices, while cereal and other basic food prices rose, due to the failed harvests over the previous two seasons. Adding to the severe consequences of the drought, ongoing clanic clashes in Somalia led to more people becoming displaced and vulnerable.
This prompted the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to launch an immediate relief operation, which provided various forms of assistance until the situation improved in July:
Food:
- dry food for nearly 20,000 families over six months; fresh meat for 30,000 families over two months; staple crop seeds for 23,000 families;
- essential household items for 62,000 households displaced by either drought or conflict.
Water and sanitation:
- 135,000 families – about 800,000 people – were provided with water from January to April through renovation of rainwater-catchment systems, water treatment plants and boreholes, improvements to hand-dug wells and rainwater catchments, and by trucking water directly.
Economic support:
- 620,000 animals were treated against disease in Middle/Lower Juba and Gedo Regions.
Armed clashes in Mogadishu (February-June 2006)
The confrontation between warring parties in Mogadishu resulted in heavy civilian casualties. The two main hospitals, Medina and Keysaney, treated 872 wounded; more than a third of them were women and children, reflecting the fierceness of the fighting. During the crisis period Medina and Keysaney were each provided with 26 MT of medical supplies.
ICRC routinely supports these facilities by providing surgical and medical supplies, contributing to staff salaries, helping with maintenance & infrastructure work, and training medical and technical staff.
Floods (October 2006-January 2007)
The floods that followed the unusually high rainfall in October and November 2006 further damaged the country’s shaky infrastructure, destroying farmland, disrupting food supplies and isolating entire villages. In many areas, people sought refuge on dykes, where they remained cut off and without shelter, water or food. People reported climbing trees to escape wild animals.
Access to the affected population was difficult, as many roads and bridges were impassable or had been washed away; delivering assistance by aircraft or boat was often the only option. The ICRC airlifted eight motorboats to the affected regions and hired four others locally, while its cargo planes made daily flights with relief goods from the regional logistics centre in Nairobi to the flooded areas, providing a broad range of items and help:
Shelter and habitat:
- shelter materials and blankets for 50,000 people in Mogadishu, affected by heavy rains in October;
- tarpaulins, mosquito nets and blankets for 59,000 families affected by floods;
- ICRC teams rescued 550 people by boat in Lower Shabelle and took them to higher grounds.
Water and sanitation:
- 45,000 displaced people in Hiran region were supplied daily with drinking water, by truck, for a month; 19 community wells in the town were cleaned;
- 25,000 people were given drinking water in Gedo region, where the ICRC renovated two water-treatment plants and provided chlorine;
- 11,500 people in Middle and Lower Juba received chlorine tablets, buckets and jerricans; wells were cleaned and disinfected, and temporary water supply systems installed in villages to provide safer water for 29,500 people;
- 23 Somali Red Crescent clinics were supplied with oral re-hydration salts and soap
In addition, 86,000 farming families were given seeds so that they could replant once conditions allowed.
Armed clashes in central and southern regions (December 2006-January 2007)
The people of central and southern Somalia were witness to the heaviest fighting in a decade. The clashes that initially erupted in the Baidoa region spread rapidly southwards towards the capital, Mogadishu, and beyond, reaching the Lower Juba region.
The ICRC increased its support for various medical facilities in central and southern areas, including three hospitals in Mogadishu and 23 clinics run by the Somali Red Crescent. It supplied these facilities with first-aid kits, surgical equipment and medicines. An expatriate surgical team performed 21 operations at various medical facilities.
In 2006, the ICRC sent 140 tonnes of medical supplies to Somalia. This was for both the main hospitals that cared for more than 3,500 war wounded and five first-aid posts and 21 clinics that looked after some 170,000 outpatients as well as wounded.
Conflict-related IDPs (throughout 2006)
One of the ICRC’s priorities in 2006 was to assist people displaced by conflict (IDPs) in rural areas of central and southern Somalia, as well as large numbers of IDPs in the capital, Mogadishu. The aid given consisted mainly of essential household items such as tarpaulins and cooking utensils. Where clan support was particularly weak or non-existent, projects were set up to provide communities with a cash income.
As well as helping people during their displacement, the ICRC distributed seeds and tools to farmers so that they could start producing food, and tools to enable them to rebuild their homes. In all, some 32,000 families – more than 192,000 people – were given essential household items. |
Owing to the massive dispersal of people following years of conflict, large numbers of Somalis are without news of their loved ones or unable to see them. The ICRC, working closely with the SRCS, tries to help, in various ways:
In 2006, 18,617 Red Cross Messages were transmitted between Somalia and other countries;
the ICRC’s files contained more than 1,300 tracing requests from people who had no idea where there relatives might be;
a joint ICRC-BBC radio programme, broadcast six times a week, gives the names of people being sought; in 2006, more than 6,500 names were read out;
the Somali Family Links website enables families to register the names of missing relatives; more than 6,000 names were added during 2006.
©ICRC/P. Yazdi/so-e-00230
Hinda keeps in touch through Red Cross messages with family members who are far away due to the conflict.
©ICRC/B. Schaeffer/so-e-00164
Children treated at Madina hospital in Mogadishu. This hospital, supported by the ICRC, has 67 beds that are constantly occupied.
©ICRC/P. Yazdi/so-e-00122
Marere district in the middle Juba region. Fields were completely flooded in December 2006 and whole harvests destroyed.
©ICRC/B. Schaeffer/so-e-00139
Internally displaced persons camp in Mogadishu. More than 800,000 people live in huts or damaged buildings in the capital.
©ICRC/P. Yazdi/so-e-00071
Bakool region, Elberde district. ICRC and Somali Red Crescent food distribution to IDPs as well as impoverished breeders in the region.
©ICRC/B. Schaeffer/so-e-00223
Mogadishu, December 2006. Woman and her child in front of a tank destroyed in 1991.
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