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A group of women in Mogadishu, Somalia, after leaving Toro-Toro, 100 kilometres away, because of a lack of water and food. Photo: OCHA
As a severe drought deepens in Somalia, the risk of famine is looming in the long-troubled country, with about half the population in need of some form of assistance, according to an assessment by United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners.
Police officer Ridwan Abdi Iman beat the odds of a disadvantaged childhood
Ridwan Abdi Iman was born in the village of Farjana Kismayo, twenty five years ago when the first wave of Somalis began fleeing across the border into neighbouring countries to escape the chaos caused by the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991.
The Deputy President of Jubbaland Administration, Mohamud Sayyid Aden (middle), flanked by the German Deputy Ambassador to Somalia, Markus Bollmohr (2nd right), and the Director Rule of Law Security Institutions Group (ROLSIG), Staffan Tillander (3rd left), cuts the ribbon during the official opening of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) centre in Kismaayo, Somalia, on 1 March 2017. UN Photo
A rehabilitation centre for former Al-Shabaab combatants was officially opened today in Kismaayo, the interim administrative capital of Jubbaland state.
His Excellency Federal President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmaajo” convened a high-level roundtable meeting in the Somali capital today to address the severe drought currently afflicting over six million people and agree on the necessary steps to avert another devastating famine in the country
1. Under the patronage of His Excellency President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed“Farmaajo”, and in line with the Mogadishu Declaration of 22 February 2017, 31delegations and representatives of civil society, the private sector, and each of the Federal
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo described the drought facing more than six million Somalis today as a “national disaster” and appealed to the international community to help raise $825 million to prevent the crisis from deteriorating into a famine during the first half of this year.
UNSOM welcomes the following joint declaration from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in response to the current drought:
MOGADISHU DECLARATION ON REGIONAL COOPERATION ON THE CURRENT DROUGHT
Former Presidents of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (left) and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (right) stand side by side with the new president of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo at the inauguration ceremony in Mogadishu on 22 February 2017. UN Photo
Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo was today inaugurated as the ninth president of Somalia in a colourful ceremony attended by over 1,200 people including two neighbouring presidents, a prime minister and more than 100 diplomats.
PRESS STATEMENT 02/2017