Water deliveries to drought-hit areas of Somaliland

[Deeq A.]

Almost 10,000 drought-affected families in southern parts of Sahil region of Somaliland are being provided with clean water by a Dubai company.

Sahil region’s administration told Radio Ergo that DP World, the Dubai state-owned port operator managing Berbera port, was financing weekly water deliveries to four districts where water supplies have dried up.

Fourteen reservoirs in Goda-Weyn and Goda-Yar, Ugas Madow and Gacan-Libaah are being filled every Saturday. These areas are suffering a severe water crisis and host around 1,075 people IDPs.

The company has said it will step up the deliveries from weekly to daily if the need arises, with water trucked from Berbera, 35 km away.

Asho Abdi Adan, a mother of 10, was displaced from God-Waraabe, 90 km from Burao, six weeks ago.  She used to beg for five litres of water from the men fetching water by donkey cart up to three hours’ walk away.  The families in this area, including the recently displaced, depend on remittances sent by their relatives living abroad.

Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Hussein, an elder, told Radio Ergo the water shortage is having harsh effects on vulnerable people.  A mother with a two-day old baby came to his house with two other small children begging for water.

Around 1.7 million people have been affected by the drought in Somaliland over three consecutive years, according to research by the drought response committee in Somaliland.