From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Sep 13 2008 - 17:11:02 EDT
Source: Famine Early Warning System Network
Date: 12 Sep 2008
Djibouti: Food Security Alert, 12 Sep 2008 - Drought and high prices
intensify extreme food insecurity
Drought conditions and high staple food prices have left more than
340,000 people - over half of Djibouti's population - highly or
extremely food insecure and in need of emergency food and non-food
assistance through the end of 2009 (Figure 1). Four consecutive years of
minimal rains to support pastoral and agropastoral production have left
rural and urban Djiboutians even more dependent on food imports at a
time when international commodity prices have risen steadily. Unless
additional assistance is mobilized to address extreme food insecurity,
particularly in pastoral areas of the northwest and southeast, as well
as in urban areas, conditions are likely to deteriorate further. Dry
conditions have resulted in high and rising levels of acute child
malnutrition since February of this year, livestock mortality rates of
50- 70 percent nationwide, limited food availability and access, and
mass migration of households to urban areas (Djibouti City, Sankal,
Assamo, and Beyadde).
Households in the rural northwest and southeast that depend heavily on
livestock for food and income have been most affected by the poor rains,
though extreme food insecurity is also present in poor, urban
communities, particularly due to increased costs for staple foods that
exceed the purchasing power of poor households. Existing food insecurity
is further aggravated by high fuel prices, high inflation, decreased
remittances, border conflict with Eritrea, and a lack of sufficient
government and donor resources to assist affected populations. Railway
construction in Ethiopia has also reduced service across the border,
stressing households dependent on rail service for labor opportunities
and transport and trade of food and livestock.
Nearly all livelihood zones also face extreme water shortages. In rural
areas, rains have been insufficient to regenerate pasture and browse,
and reports indicate that while some water catchments have received
rainfall, the water in most catchments is not fit for human consumption.
In Djibouti City, water is being rationed, and poor households in areas
like Vietnam, Sauvage, Gaan maan, PK 12, Wadajir (Arhibba II) Hayabley,
Layabley, Bache à eau, Barwaqo, and Moustigaire are particularly
affected.
In response to the crisis, the World Food Program is distributing full
rations to 55,000 rural residents in all pastoral areas, meeting 31
percent of estimated rural need. Feeding centers for 25,000 children,
serving 40 percent of total estimated nutritional need and sponsored by
USAID, UNICEF, and the government, were also reactivated at the
beginning of the year.
However, no formal initiatives for urban residents have been
implemented, and a lack of government response coordination and
transparency is hindering the provision of assistance. To meet needs and
prevent a further deterioration in food security conditions, a number of
interventions are urgently needed through the end of 2009, even if rains
from the current season (July to September) are normal and food prices
decrease somewhat during the first quarter of 2009 due to decreasing
international oil prices. Recommended interventions include: expansion
of food distributions to cover all 155,000 rural residents in need,
restocking and asset-building programs, rehabilitation and construction
of water catchments in grazing areas, development of alternative energy
sources to facilitate water pumping, and, in urban areas, a voucher or
cash–for–work program and intensive water tankering. Resources must also
be mobilized to expand the number of feeding centers nationwide, and the
government must improve response coordination, transparency, and
mobilization to ensure a rapid and robust response.
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/eacea085bacc7974c1256ec40042c62b/36
64d6de2ec90425852574c2005d2809/Body/0.4C8?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gi
f>
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VDUX-7JEMQY?OpenDocument
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VDUX-7JEMQY?OpenDocument&r
c=1&emid=acos-635nze> &rc=1&emid=acos-635nze
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----