By M.A. Egge
The state has on Friday appealed to the International Community to help alleviate the suffering of the people following the severe drought that has afflicted the country.
In the strongest humanitarian appeal yet, the Minister of Information, National Guidance and Culture Hon. Osman Abdillahi Sahardid has said that the crisis which have reached monumental proportions has started claiming human lives after wiping livestock in the eastern and western parts of the country.
Hon. Osman Sahardid whose docket carries the official government spokesperson portfolio said that the situation of the people is so grave and quite dire.
He said that the humanitarian crisis required monumental help from all quarters.
The statement said; “Generally there is a severe drought gripping Somaliland that has been on for the past three seasons which is especially severe on the eastern and western parts of the country.
The famine has had its afflictions felt severely hence has completely depleted the livestock from the pastoralists’ husbandry such that they have been left without anything.
Similarly some human lives have been lost due to hunger and thirst (lack of water) whereas the rest are on the verge of death whereby their livelihood are in so dire condition that they need international help.
In this regard, therefore, the government of the Republic of Somaliland is sending an urgent appeal to the donor countries, International NGOs, the UN, the regional one, the national ones, the business fraternity and the Somaliland society at large that emergency humanitarian aid is needed swiftly to alleviate the plight of the people which is so precarious and cannot be assumed.
