Djibouti reeling from several years of drought

Lisa Schlein in Voice of America: The United Nations has launched a two-year, multi-million-dollar appeal to help one-quarter-million people in the tiny East African country of Djibouti recover from several years of persistent, recurring drought. The U.N. seeks $74 million for 2014 to break out of the country’s ongoing cycle of crises.

Two weeks ago, two Somali suicide bombers blew themselves up along with a Turkish man in a café frequented by foreigners in Djibouti’s capital city. The international media devoted little coverage to the story, underlining how overlooked and neglected this tiny country in the Horn of Africa is by the rest of the world.

This is a major problem for nearly one-quarter of Djibouti’s population of 850,000 - some 250,000 people who are seriously affected by more than four years of consecutive drought.

U.N. Resident Coordinator in Djibouti Robert Watkins is in Geneva to get international donors to pay attention to their plight and to support plans to help them emerge from this crisis.

He says malnutrition rates have increased to 18 percent, which exceeds the emergency threshold of 15 percent. In some areas, he says malnutrition is as high as 26 percent and the rate of chronic malnutrition is 30 percent.  In addition, he says 60 percent of the rural population is suffering from malaria and diarrheal diseases...

AfDB and Global Environment Facility to strengthen climate change adaptation with USD 33.58 million

African Development Bank: The Global Environment Facility Council has approved a grant of USD 11.3 million, to be channeled through the AfDB, for climate adaptation activities in Cameroon, Djibouti and Kenya. 

The Council’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) will finance the Rural Livelihoods’ Adaptation to Climate Change Program in Djibouti and Kenya. For the first phase of the program, Kenya and Djibouti will receive grants of USD 2.5 million and USD 5.07 million, respectively. The program will increase the resilience of pastoralists to the effects of climate change effects on the region.

The SCCF will also provide a grant of USD 4.03 million for a project to enhance the resilience of poor communities to urban flooding in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This project will strengthen institutional capacity to improve long-term resilience to flood risk, improve the readiness and adaptive capacity of local communities to the risk of flooding, and help pay for flood control technologies.

The GEF Council also approved financing, from the LDCF, for projects in Angola and Madagascar. In Angola, a USD 4.41 million grant will enable the Bank to implement a project to integrate climate change into management of the environment and adoption of sustainable land management practices. The project will disseminate sustainable land management and adaptation practices in agro-forestry and land ecology in 350 communities.

In Madagascar, a USD 6.27 million grant will support the development of climate resilience in the agriculture sector in the country’s southwest region. This project will strengthen the resilience of water supply infrastructure over 10,200 hectares of agricultural land in the Bas Mangoky region....

EU to fund Djibouti desalination plant

Terra Daily via AFP: The European Union said Wednesday it will pay for most of a combined renewable energy and water desalination plant in Djibouti, to supply some 200,000 people, a quarter of the country's population.

EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs made the announcement with visiting Djibouti Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita, agreeing to provide some 40.5 million euros of the 46-million-euro cost.

The plant will be built near the northeast African country's capital, home to three-quarters of Djibouti's people and where water supply is less than half that required.

The 2011 drought in East Africa

IRIN: Severe drought, exacerbated by poverty and conflict, hit at least four countries in 2011 - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia - displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Thousands in Somalia and Ethiopia began the year by making the dangerous journey to Yemen. Others from these two countries headed for South Africa where they faced arrest, deportation and detention.

Among other innovations, the humanitarian response in drought-affected countries across the Horn saw an escalation in the use of cash transfers. As the magnitude of the drought crisis gained international attention, familiar laments emerged about the failure to heed warnings issued months earlier and learn from previous famines by building resilience to inevitable weather shocks.

...The drought was especially hard in Somalia, with the UN declaring a famine in some regions of south-central Somalia. Drought and insecurity forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring Kenya, swelling the number of people in the congested Dadaab refugee complex, which for many residents, has been “home” for most of their lives.

Meanwhile, relief efforts inside Somalia were thrown into jeopardy by the banning of several agencies by the Al-Shabab insurgency as well as by frequent looting at distribution centres and also Kenya’s military intervention, aimed at neutralizing the insurgents. US anti-terror legislation has also placed hurdles in the way of aid agencies...

Horn of Africa seeks drought resilience strategy

Dejene Sojato in Walta.info (Ethiopia): The Horn of Africa countries are facing the worst drought in half a century. UN estimates that 12.4 million people are in urgent need of emergency assistance. Following the below-normal 2011 spring rains in the eastern Horn of Africa, food security among pastoralists and populations in marginal farming areas sharply deteriorated. The situation has reached famine conditions in several parts of Somalia and refugee flows have grown sharply into Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti because of the drought._Moreover, Somalia presents an array of political and security challenges.

In response to the unprecedented humanitarian crisis that hit the Horn of Africa, recently, leaders of Eastern Africa and the African Union, UN representatives, development partners and international agencies held a 'Summit on the Horn of Africa Crisis' in Nairobi. The Summit discussed and adopted a strategy to mitigate the effect of drought. It notes current crisis is a reminder that the Horn of Africa is more vulnerable to Climate Change than most other regions in the world. While droughts may be an unavoidable natural phenomenon, the Summit notes but their impact can be mitigated by human action.

The Summit highlights the importance of introducing a new twin track approach to drought risk management. The new approach and focus should be preventive rather than reactive and should be holistic, rather than emergency oriented. It should encompass the continuum of relief, recovery, reconstruction, innovation and long-term development towards sustainable development to ensure drought resilience and ensuring food security. In this regard, farmers should be encouraged and supported to increase their productivity and overall production by promoting availability of inputs, extension services, dependable markets, competitive prices and good infrastructure....

Orthographic projection of the Horn of Africa by L'Américain, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Djibouti: the forgotten country in the Horn of Africa crisis

Mark Tran in the PovertyMatters blog at the Guardian (UK): Perhaps because of its small size, Djibouti has received scant attention in media coverage of the current crisis in the Horn of Africa. The former French colony, bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, has a population of only 820,000 people, but also faces significant problems. The fourth consecutive year of drought has led to massive loss of livestock, the destruction of crops and increased malnutrition.

There has been an increased migration of pastoralists to the capital, Djibouti, where the urban slum of Balbala has become a small city in its own right. The recurring droughts have affected 120,000 people, one in eight of the population. According to the UN, pastoralists have lost 70-80% of their livestock, while food prices have risen 50%. "Loss of income due to drought combined with the food price crisis has forced vulnerable households to allocate a larger share of their income to purchase food at the expense of health and education," says the UN.

The worsening security situation in south-central Somalia has compounded problems for the tiny state, host to the only US military base in Africa. There has been a large influx of refugees at the al Addeh refugee camp, whose number is estimated to be 15,000 and growing. This is causing further concern for food security and safe water supply.

"The country's needs are very urgent, although not on the same scale as those of its neighbours," said Katherine Roux, who was in Djibouti just over a week ago for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "Although it's a small country, the government struggles to reach some rural communities, which feel like they are at the end of the world."...

Sulphuric chimneys at Lac Abbe (Lake Abbe), Ethiopia/Djibouti, shot by Rolf Cosar, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

EU boosts support to Horn of Africa drought victims

Aude Genet in AFP: The European Union aid commissioner on Saturday vowed to do all that is possible to help 12 million people struggling from extreme drought across the Horn of Africa, boosting aid by 27.8 million euros ($40 million). "We commit to do as much as we can," said EU aid chief Kristalina Georgieva during a visit to Dadaab, the world's largest refugee complex.

The funds come on top of almost 70 million euros ($100 million) the bloc has already contributed as assistance in the worst regional drought in decades, affecting parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Uganda. Refugees from neighbouring Somalia fleeing drought, famine and conflict continue to stream daily into the camp in eastern Kenya, a vast and overcrowded complex sheltering some 380,000 people.

Kenya's government has said it is overwhelmed by the flood of refugees, including those fleeing two areas in southern Somalia that the United Nations declared on Wednesday were suffering from famine. "We really appreciate what the Kenyan government and the Kenyan people are doing," said Georgieva. "We have a responsibility to share."

Kenya recently agreed to open a new extension to ease congestion in the camp, but remains wary of the security threat posed by Somali insurgents and fears that some rebels can find their way into the camps...

On the edge of the Dadaab camp in Kenya, July 8 2011, shot by Oxfam East Africa, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Millions facing serious drought in Horn of Africa

Charities Aid Foundation: Almost eight million people living in countries in the Horn of Africa are in serious need of emergency humanitarian assistance, it has been claimed. CARE reports that Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are facing droughts that have been worsened by the La Nina weather phenomenon.

Despite some rainfall in the region, many people are still struggling to recover from the last drought, which hit in 2008. Mohamed Khaled, CARE Regional Emergency Coordinator for East Africa, said: "Chronic vulnerability, poverty, social injustice and climate change are all responsible for recurring food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.

"On top of that, a significant increase in food and fuel prices has worsened the current situation." Mr Khaled added that, for example, the price of maize has risen by 27 percent in Kenya in the last three months….

West Africa to receive EUR20 million aid package for drought

Eurasia Review: The European Commission adopted Wednesday a € 20 million humanitarian financial package to support 12 million people affected by drought in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. This funding will help efforts to develop the populations' resilience to drought and adapt to climate change.

The Greater Horn of Africa has been severely affected by recurrent and persistent manmade and natural hazards, leaving populations highly vulnerable to drought, human and livestock disease outbreaks, and to a lesser extent floods. Accounting for 95% of the death toll caused by natural disasters in Africa, droughts pose a very serious threat to the people of this region.

Protracted conflicts, major structural problems and a lack of basic services mean that inhabitants are poorly equipped to cope with natural disasters. Malnutrition and child morbidity and mortality are among the greatest humanitarian concerns in this region. Since 2008, the Commission hassupported drought preparedness interventions in the region worth € 60 million.

....A large number of the pastoralist populations in the arid lands chronically rely on outside assistance, and lack access to basic services. This results in high rates of malnutrition, child morbidity and mortality, as well as increasing numbers of pastoralist drop-outs, and poses significant humanitarian risks during periods of reduced rainfall. It is estimated that over 12 million pastoralists and agro-pastoralists are affected by recurrent droughts…

An Awdalite at Gargara's well, shot by Aby saylici, Wikimedia Commons via World 66, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license