Somali Drought Pushes People Into Urban Conflict Zones, UN Says

By Sarah McGregor

Somalia’s drought is driving residents into urban conflict zones such as the capital, Mogadishu, in search of assistance, said Shamshul Bari, an independent human rights expert at the United Nations.

About 2.4 million Somalis, or a third of the population, need humanitarian support and food aid through June, Bari, who was appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council in 2008 to assess Somalia, said in an e-mailed statement today. Bari’s comments come after his sixth trip to Somalia and the breakaway states of Somaliland and Puntland between Feb. 14 and Feb. 25.

“The drought is now a cause for displacement in Somalia, in addition to conflict,” he said. “The drought-affected population has sought assistance closer to urban areas such as Mogadishu where the ongoing fighting presents increased risk for the civilian population.”

The drought has increased the price of rice, pasta and sugar by as much as 15 percent in Somalia’s south since October, while the cost of tea doubled and meat rose by a third, the U.K.-based charity Oxfam said in an e-mailed statement today.

The international community should increase aid to Somalia to prevent a “natural and human disaster,” Bari said.

The Horn of Africa nation has been without a functioning central administration since 1991, when ruler Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted. Al-Shabaab, which the U.S. accuses of having links to al-Qaeda, controls most of southern and central Somalia, and the transitional government led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed hold only parts of Mogadishu.

Peacekeepers

Somalia is counting on the African Union’s peacekeeping force, made up of mostly Ugandan and Burundian troops, to help defeat Islamic insurgents and prevent the fighting from spilling over the country’s borders. Amisom, as the mission is also known, completed training of 194 Somali Police Force officials in Kenya as part of a plan to boost the country’s domestic law enforcement, it said in an e-mailed statement today.

Separately, the U.K. plans to triple aid to Somalia in the next three years to 80 million pounds ($130 million) annually, from 26 million pounds in the financial year through April, according to an e-mailed statement from its high commission in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

--Editors: Philip Sanders, Alastair Reed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at or smcgregor5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

Source: Bloomberg.