Friday, June 02, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) — The humanitarian emergency in drought-hit Somalia will continue through December and could be exacerbated by fighting in Mogadishu that has claimed hundreds of lives, a food analysis organization said on Friday.
A drought now destroying east Africa has killed hundreds of people and tens of thousands of livestock. At least 1.7 million Somalis out of a population of 10 million are affected by drought.
The Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSAU) said the long rainy season is not yet complete but it “predicts that the humanitarian emergency in southern Somalia will continue from July to December 2006.”
The dire situation in southern Somalia is exacerbated by market disruptions, a predicted poor cereal production and lower than expected cattle calving.
But FSAU said the situation was made worse still by fighting between rival militia in Mogadishu that has claimed as many as 350 lives since the start of the year and severely undermined security in the fragile country.
“If the current outbreak of conflict in Mogadishu is not resolved quickly … it will continue to disrupt market supplies throughout Southern Somalia,” the FSAU said.
It added that commodity prices were up by between 20 percent to 30 percent due to the fighting.
FSAU is sponsored by the European Union and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Since the ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, hundreds of thousands have died from famine, disease and conflict as the country plunged into anarchy.
Source: Reuters, June 2, 2006
