An Appeal to Ms.ValerieAmos, The Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia’s Sool, Sanaag and Cayn Regions
An Appeal to Ms.ValerieAmos
Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Subject: The Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia’s Sool, Sanaag and Cayn Regions
Dear Ms Amos
The failure of the Dayr seasonal rains in Somalia’s northern regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC), which are normally expected between September and November, has hit the area hard more than anywhere else in Somalia. While the drought has affected many parts of Somalia, both north and south, what makes the situation in the SSC regions particularly more dire is that the area was already reeling from the merciless occupation since October 2007 by the militia from Somaliland – the self-declared, one-clan based secessionist enclave based in Hargeisa. The suffering SSC population has now little capacity to cope with the pain of the occupation and the trials and tribulations of nature.
From day one when the secessionist militia wrested Lasanod, the undefended SSC regional capital, from Puntland, the occupying militia had little compunction in using forced displacement, economic deprivation, social dislocation and a reign of terror as their chosen instruments of suppression and control. Under the circumstances, over 100,000 of Lascanod’s pre-invasion population of 120,000, were forced to flee the city, seeking help from fellow related nomads who are themselves struggling with their own survival and barely able to cope with the needs of the displaced. This picture has been replicated in all the other towns falling under the secessionists’ control.
Despite timely, repeated disaster warnings from the Northern Somalia Unionist Movement (NSUM), an outfit defending the inalienable rights of the SSC regions to remain part of Somalia and rid themselves of the occupation, and notwithstanding appeals for help from traditional leaders, the responses of the United Nations humanitarian organisations based in Nairobi have been derisory – often too little too late. The occupation and Somali land’s concocted scaremongering about baseless insecurity in the SSC regions, or its spurious claim of the area, have been used as convenient cover to shirk their humanitarian responsibilities.
Clearly, need is not the crucial factor determining the responses of these humanitarian organizations. These organizations, at least some of them, have their favorite regions for humanitarian, relief and development aid. Those, like Somali land, offering easier accessibility, a semblance of peace, a modicum of governance , or preferred political orientations, are rewarded even when they are better off than others, while needy but remote, land-locked, and occupied areas, like the SSC regions, are condemned to the bottom of their pecking order. Worse, whatever little aid is earmarked for the SSC is often channeled through the secessionists and much of that is routinely siphoned off. Sans field offices and staff in the SSC regions, there is little no transparency or accountability in the allocation and end-use of that aid.
A correspondent for the BBC Somali Service, who toured the area last week, attested to what every body else acknowledges except the UN humanitarian agencies – that the area is more peaceful than anywhere else in Somalia, north or south. And yet despite this fact, and the prevailing humanitarian crisis, little or no aid is forthcoming. As this correspondent reported, water is brought from filthy reservoirs almost 70 km away, with a barrel of water fetching 8 dollars at the time and expected to rise as the shortages deepen. This would condemn most of the population in Sool and other parts of the SSC regions to thirst, hunger and certain death, in particular the most needy and vulnerable amongst them.
NSUM is hereby appealing to the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator to intervene before it is too late and ensure that her humanitarian coordinator in the field and related agencies under his ambit respond to the of drought -affected population in Somalia generally but in ways commensurate with their needs.
Ultimately, the occupation of SSC by the invading secessionist militia remains .,the main contributor to the interrelated humanitarian, political and social problems pervading the area. And unless the occupation ends, the underlying humanitarian and political problems will persist, sowing the seeds for the next crisis. It behoves countries that have leverage over the secessionists, in particular the USA, Britain and other members of the EU to pressure the separatists to end their secession but as a minimum to withdraw forthright from the SSC regions. That will not only bring peace and stability to the region but could avert future humanitarian crisis.
NUSM
Executive Committee