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Three die of hunger in Middle Shabelle as drought worsens in Somalia

Storyline:National News

A girl stands next to a dead goat in a pastoral village in Habasweyne (means Òhuge dustÓ), in the outskirt of Hargeisa, Somaliland. Severe drought exacerbated by El Ni–o conditions has hit parts of Somaliland and Puntland, compounding an already challenging humanitarian situation in the area. The drought conditions follow four successive seasons of below-average rains in parts of Somaliland (spanning two years), and a below-average Deyr rainy season in Puntland (October- December 2015). The UN has appealed US$105 million to provide humanitarian and livelihood assistance to some 1.7 million people, most of them pastoralists and agro-pastoralists who make up three quarters of the population in Somaliland and Puntland. Among them, 385,000 need immediate assistance, while another 1.3 million are on the brink of slipping into starvation if rains continue to fail and aid too slow to come.
Three people have died of starvation in Middle Shabelle region as the drought crisis in the country continues to deepen, witness has said.

Abdullahi Mohamed Hassan an elder told Goobjoog News by phone on Saturday that the trio died on Friday in Qordhere village some kilometers off Jowhar town.

“The water pans, boreholes and other sources of water have dried up in rural areas and these people died of Hunger and thirsty,” said Hassan.

Hassan said the severe drought has caused many people to leave their homes in rural areas to towns.

He called on Somalia Federal Government to dispatch aid to drought-stricken regions in southern Somalia.

The move comes barely two days after Somali president said  millions of Somali people are at risk of starvation if action is not taken soon.

“The devastating drought ravaging many parts of the country continues to take a terrible toll on animals. Many children and aged have lost their lives and now those who were strong enough to endure have started to fall,” Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.

Dozens of people, most of them children, are reported to have died of starvation in recent months.

Some of the hardest hit has been the nomadic pastoralists, who depend on their livestock for their livelihood. In the unrelenting drought, hundreds of livestock have starved to death due to lack of pasture and water.

Water shortages are a chronic problem in Somalia, mostly affecting the rural population.

The water shortage has forced many residents to walk for many kiolmetres in search of clean water to drink.