SOMALIA:

A country with no government where war and
drought push people to the breaking point

The situation is desperate for Somali people who have fled the fighting and find themselves in a battle for survival in harsh desert conditions with little food or water.

Due to the lack of any clear leadership, Somalia is one of the most difficult and insecure regions in the world for humanitarian groups to work in. Many aid agencies have withdrawn from Somalia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without assistance. Our team finally managed to enter Somalia in April.

After days of meetings with local leaders and carrying out assessments, our team was given a simple message, “We need water, we can survive with little food, but we will die without water, please help us with water.”

Tens of thousands of gallons of water were desperately needed to be transported to outlying villages where people sought refuge from fighting and insecurity. In difficult conditions, our team managed to deliver 50 large tanker loads of water into outlying areas of Somalia.

A follow up trip is urgently needed as the situation continues to detoriate

Empty reservoirs mean no water — a desperate situation.

in Somalia. Besides water, we need to purchase and deliver, cooking sets, blankets, jerry cans, tarpaulins and clothing.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is extremely concerned about the difficult humanitarian situation in which the people of Somalia find themselves. In recent years, Somalis have had to endure more than a rapid succession of natural disasters; they have also had to cope with an intensification of the long-running armed conflict in the country. Conditions have worsened to their lowest point in many years, and the prospects are among the very bleakest in the world.

Soaring food prices and a worsening drought are causing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). About 2.6 million Somalis now need assistance. That’s more than a third of the country’s population, and a rise of 40 percent since January.

An additional 600,000 people in urban areas either do not have enough food to sustain their households, or have been forced to sell assets to buy food, leaving their lives vulnerable to further deterioration.