Humanitarian community seeks $864 m to reach 3.9 million Somalis

The two consecutive seasons of poor rainfall in 2016 created a domino effect of losses, with  insufficient Gu rains in the southern breadbasket led to a 49 percent drop in cereal production compared to an average year.

By Muluneh Gabre, muluneh@alleastafrica.com

ADDIS ABABA – The humanitarian community in Somalia is seeking $864 million to reach 3.9 million people with urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance.

The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Somalia for 2017 plan was launched on Tuesday in Mogadishu with calls to the international community for timely support to help bolster humanitarian operations and meet urgent humanitarian needs.

“The humanitarian situation remains grim for millions of Somalis. We are faced with a slight but steady increase in the number of people in need, and most recently with a significant risk of further deterioration to famine,” Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said in a statement.

The launch of the HRP comes against a backdrop of a worsening humanitarian situation in Somalia.

Expanding drought conditions have left hundreds of thousands of Somalis facing severe food and water shortages.

Overall, some 5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. About 320,000 children under the age of 5 years are acutely malnourished and in need of urgent nutrition support. Of these, 50,000 children are severely malnourished and far more vulnerable than any other group, said the statement.

According to the statement, protection violations remain at the centre of the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and widespread human rights violations; instability and insecurity drive displacement and weaken the resilience of the most vulnerable.

At least 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable people are exposed to protection risks, said the statement.