Horn of Africa faces unprecedented drought
BURAO, SOMALILAND — Even the hyenas won’t eat the carcasses of Mohamed Aden Guleid’s sheep, goats and camels, which litter the landscape in Somalia’s northwest Somaliland region.
There is too little meat on their bones because of a devastating drought.
“I had 550 of these livestock; now only 50 of my livestock remain,” he said. “My family contains 10 members, and I must provide for them.”
Herds of animals are dying across Somalia following two failed rainy seasons. Here in Somaliland, at least 40 percent of goats and sheep have perished, amounting to more than 10 millio Herders wait for water trucks
If April’s rains fail again, the people who have depended on these animals for generations may be next. The United Nations warns of famine, and says more than 6 million people need food aid already in all of Somalia. Forty have died so far in Somaliland, according to the National Drought Committee.
Those seeking respite from the drought trek for days to towns in hopes of finding food and water.
Aid agencies and the government send water trucks to fill dried out wells, and each morning, dozens of herders with hundreds of thirsty animals flock to the wells but the reach of the trucks is limited.
