THT-The National Drought Rescue Committee of the Republic of Somaliland, has on Thursday 13th Jan, 2022 officially declared a severe drought pertain in the country, affecting 810,000 people.
The committee, which was recently appointed by the President of the Republic of Somaliland, H.E. Muse Bihi Abdi, and is leading by the Vice President of Somaliland, H.E.. Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismail (Saylici), at a press conference stated that there is a severe drought situation in the regions and districts of the country, and issued a press statement detailing the extent of the drought and the measures planned by the committee and the alarm calls sending to UN, INGO, LNGO and World, and Somaliland businessmen as follows:
Following the sporadic Gu rains in parts of the country, and the failure of the Deyr rains, there is evidence of drought in the country.
Based on the NADFOR Preliminary Report on the Drought Situation, discussed at the 83rd Session of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Somaliland, the President of the Republic of Somaliland, H.E. Muse Bihi Abdi, appointed a National Drought Rescue Committee to assess the situation and formulate a response plan.
The National Drought Rescue Committee (NDRC) has launched a series of initiatives to address the issue of drought relief in Somaliland.
- The deployment of a technical committee comprising the member of regional of the Drought Committee and NADFOR which has studied the drought situation in the country as a whole and prepared a comprehensive report on the drought situation in the country.
- Rehabilitation and using of 41 boreholes, which are located in areas of water scarcity, particularly in the Eastern region.
- Government trucks started water trucking in Togdheer, Sanaag, Sool and Maroodijeex regions
NADFOR has prepared food stocks for the drought affected people.
Following the report of the drought situation, I declare that there is a drought situation in the country that has impacted all regions of the country such as: Sool, Sanag, Togdheer, Sahil, the Marodijex area, and the coast of Awdal region. The drought impact assessment has directly impacted 810,000 people in need of emergency assistance such as water, food and medical care, and is also expected to impact approximately 1,200,450 people over the next four months.
To address this situation, the government has allocated $ 3,000,000 (Three Million Dollars) for food, water trucking and rehabilitation of damaged wells.
I urge the regional drought relief committees to be prepared to play their part in addressing the current drought situation.
I also call on the Somaliland business community, the Somaliland diaspora, the international community (UN, INGO’s and LNGO’s), international governments and Somaliland’s partners to play a role in assisting and rescuing those affected by the drought, prior the situation worsened.
I call on the people of Somaliland to join hands, help each other, and work for their own good, and pray to God to lessen us from the drought and protect us from its disease and tragedy.
Therefore, from today, I would like to inform you that anyone who wants to address the drought in the country must channel through the National Drought Rescue Committee.
Finally, I pray to God to diminish the drought and pour out his mercy on us.