Somaliland, drought takes children away to the country without rains

[Deeq A.]

Travel to the state that is not there, but has become an example of democracy in the Horn of Africa, thanks to transparent elections and political change

by Michele Farina, sent to Hargeisa

 

“THEto drought it sends black birds to claw the children. We fall asleep close, hoping to wake up to find them. ” It is rare, in a place where people have lost everything, to be welcomed by a poem. Hawa Ali Saleban is a petite woman who walks in the sun. While he declaims his verses, he holds a child dressed in red. Amina, 3 and a half years old, is one of her five daughters, to which are added three males. Hawa inherited her role as storyteller from her father. And now she is the poetess of Urgusan, in the village of fortune that hosts 200 displaced families. A war did not bring them together, but the drought. All here are, indeed they were, shepherds. They lost their livestock because in practice it’s been three years since it’s raining. “The first to die were the sheep, then the goats. Finally, the camels, which are the most resistant to thirst, “say the men. “A camel can stay 30 days without drinking, but then you have to give it a barrel and a half of water.” And when the camels die, it means that the drought is really hard. Luigi Baldelli has just photographed a mosaic of white bones scattered in the bush. In theory, we would be at the end of the rainy season, but everything is dry. Not a blade of grass. For this reason, from the surrounding hills, the nomadic families found themselves near the town. They arrived on foot, carrying only their children, leaving their “real” huts because there were no animals to transport them. Here the tank trucks and survival kits from Oxfam arrive from time to time. They are the women who built these shelters made of sheets, cloths, shrubs. Every evening Hawa collects her flock of undernourished children under two tents. There are no mattresses on the ground but empty jute bags. There are no blankets, but many bodies nearby to try to warm up the nights. Hoping that black birds do not take someone away.

Somaliland the land that is not there

 

Diplomatic Limbo

It is rare, in a place where people have lost everything, that they still take democracy next to poetry. But this is Somaliland, a corner of the Horn of Africa that offers surprises. “The most democratic country in East Africa”, the Economist defines it. A country that does not exist on paper. A former British colony, since 1991 no one has recognized his independence, his detachment from neighboring Somalia (formerly an Italian colony). In a sort of diplomatic limbo, while Mogadiscio crashed into the civil war (and there remained), Hargeisa recovered from the horrors of the past. The Dresden of Africa had renamed it: thirty years ago, a city razed to the ground by the bombings of the dictator Siad Barre. There are no monuments left in the lively capital of this non-existent state. Only a small, old Mig of enemy aviation, to remember the roots of a people risen from the conflict. The new president is a former pilot who decided not to hit his people. Muse Bihi Abdi was elected last November. It is the fifth of a brief history, in a continent that is teeming with life leaders. Somaliland also suffers from endemic pecs, such as corruption. But it remains an oasis, compared to neighboring countries. Jama Musse Jama, half-hearted intellectual in Hargeisa and a half in Italy, recalls a story that seems obvious (and in some respects popped): that of a country that, in order to try to be recognized, wanted to renew a democracy license over time. Fairly transparent and top-level elections, thanks also to the maintenance of traditional organisms such as Guurti, the assembly of the elderly that represents the clan structure and acts as a barbell to Parliament that emerged from the polls. If Somaliland had been recognized, the international community would have imposed – in exchange for aid – a standard, “western” electoral format,

Land of shepherds

Urns and camels: Somaliland is a land of shepherds. By tradition and economy, its wealth lies in cattle. Four million items are exported abroad, especially in Arab countries. A good part of the sheep and goats that are sacrificed during the last leg of the pilgrimage to Mecca come from here. But the triple drought killed 70% of the animals. It is a long emergency, as the lack of rain is repeated every year.

The “earth dam”

The Dhinbiriyale reservoir should be full and dry. We are 70 km from the capital, towards the border with Ethiopia. Musse Hussein indicates with the stick the water line that is not there, along the now empty “earth dam”. Hussein has seen many droughts in his 101 years of life, “but this is the worst”. In the past, “some animals survived and could be restarted. Not now”. In the village, ActionAid has collaborated for the creation of berkhet, covered pools where rainwater is collected. In this non-rainy season it rained only once, for three hours. Wells in many places are not a solution because ground water is too salty. Hussein tells of two of his nephews who are in Libya, after having embarked on the journey to “green Europe”. The military escort is here to remind us that for the children of drought the call of Al Shabab militiamen is not far. “Help us,” says Hussein. Before asking the stranger whether he knows how to kill a camel, with a precise slash around his neck.

 http://www.corriere.it/esteri/18_gennaio_03/somaliland-siccita-porta-via-bambini-987f8f0e-f002-11e7-ae90-7494db7ac3d7.shtml?refresh_ce-cp