Factsheet
Drought in the Horn of Africa –
IFRC update
September 9th, 2011
Latest Developments:
 The severe drought conditions continue affecting large areas of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and
Djibouti. It is manifested in loss of lives, deteriorated health conditions, outbreak of
communicable diseases, loss of livelihoods, destitution and resourse based conflicts.
 Measles continues to spread in the Dadaab camps and especially throughout the Kenya arid
lands, as well as around Nairobi. Moreover, within the last few days, two cholera cases have
been confirmed in the Dadaab camps, with fears that an epidemic could spread within the camps
as well as in the northern parts of Kenya.
 To date, the number of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance in the HoA exceeds
13.3 milion people. UNHCR reports that the average daily arrivals of new refugees in the three
Daddab camps is 1200 individuals. As of August 31th, the total Somali refugee population in the
Daddab camps stood at 478,600 individuals from which 162,969 arrived since January 2011. In
Ethiopia, as of September 5th, there were 121 279 refugees in Dollo Ado camp.
POPULATIONS IN NEED
Local
Somali Refugees Other Refugees
Djibouti
146,600
17,532
1,510
Kenya
3,750,000
482,810
77,777
Somalia
4,000,000
Ethiopia
4,567,256
181,001
50,500
TOTAL
12,463,856
681,343
159,787
Excluding 20,000 new refugees arrivals from Sudan
Total
165,642
4,310,587
4,000,000
4,828,757
13,304,986
 Humanitarian conditions have become more complicated in some areas where the onset of short
rains led to floods and caused fatalities and loss of livestock. Kenya Red Cross field offices also
report flooding in Naivasha, Nyandarua and Turkana. Aid agencies are concerned that heavy
rains may hinder or delay access to drought affected areas, increase the risk of crop damage
and cause the outbreak of diseases including cholera.
 Weather and food production forecasts for the coming months are still uncertain and indicate
that the worse is yet to come before we see improvement. This is despite expectations of about
normal rainfall in Nov-Jan in western Kenya, westerns highlands of Ethiopia and parts of
Somalia. Indeed, the larger Mandera Triangle and parts of south Somalia may remain with rain
deficit after the coming short rains.
 There is a relative short term stabilization in the food procurement mechanism in the region,
however, concerns remain about Kenya and Ethiopia supplies including the refugees food
needs. The Kenya Food Security Steering Group reports that the food security situation is further
deteriorating in the arid and semi arid areas particularly for the poor and very poor households.
Intensity of the drought is most severe in Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, West Pokot, Moyale, and
Ijara districts.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
2 I FACT SHEET/ Drought in the Horn of Africa / 9 September 2011
 There is very high acute malnutrition rates among children under-5 are reported in certain parts
of the Dadaab camps, especially among new arrivals from Somalia, with Global Acute
Malnutrition (GAM) rates reaching 25% and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) rates reaching 4%,
both are above internationally accepted emergency thresholds. Alarming under-5 child mortality
rates are being reported from the Dollo Ado camps in Ethiopia, reaching as high as 5 times
internationally acceptable levels.
 There are high concerns about conditions of Somali refugees arriving in Ethiopia where
significant death rates related mainly to measles have been recorded.
 On 9 – 10th September, a Summit on the HoA was held to enhance partnership to eradicate
drought emergencies. It was attended by Presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, South
Sudan, vice president of Kenya, PM of Kenya, PM of Ethiopia and a number of ministers of
foreign affairs. The diplomatic community, senior UN representatives, KRCS, ICRC and IFRC
were also present.
 Each of the Heads of State made similar points in their presentations. The three crises in HoA
were addressed – conflict in Somalia, the refugee crisis and the pastoralist crisis. All agreed that
Somalia is the heart of the crisis and that resolving this is primarily about security, and until that
is addressed, the humanitarian efforts will have limited effect, even though the efforts are crucial.
On the refugee crisis, states were commended for offering as much support as they do to these
large and growing refugee communities. There was reference to the need to expand the existing
camp structures, but also to the need to balance support to the host community and offer as
much support as possible within Somalia itself, partly to stem the flow.
 Most attention was given the pastoralist/dry lands crisis. All governments, and all subsequent
presentations, had one underlying theme – the need to address this crisis with more foresight,
and more commitment to sustainable solutions, than has been the case in the past. The
governments urged the international community to invest more in the long term, and engage in
enabling pastoralist communities to manage the cycles of drought without falling into crises
*For Key Messages please refer to the IFRC website www.ifrc.org in the section Horn of Africa.
Activity update
Kenya
To huge national and international acclaim, The Kenyans for Kenya campaign has raised 1 billion
Kenyan Shillings (700 million in cash and 300 million in kind) This initiative, led by KRCS and a
number of corporate partners, has not only raised considerable financial support, it has also
demonstrated a national capacity to mobilise the private sector, the media, artists and ordinary
citizens, to respond to national crises. This achievement was acknowledged by State leaders in the
HoA Summit.
Cholera Intervention
In response to growing concerns of cholera outbreak in and around the refugee camps, Kenya Red
Cross with the support of the IFRC, has planned a cholera awareness and preparedness project,
also involving the scaling up of emergency health interventions in the region. The log frame has
been submitted to ECHO and a full proposal has been requested from them.
Camp Management of a New Camp IFO
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
3 I FACT SHEET/ Drought in the Horn of Africa / 9 September 2011
Kenya Red Cross is in talks with UNHCR and Kenyan authorities to take a 12 months lead
responsibility in setting up a new camp in Daddab with the support of IFRC and the PNS’s. No
agreement has been finalized at this time.
Cross Boarders Operations
There are new talks between Kenya Red Cross, Somalia Red Crescent and IFRC focussing on
cross boarder operations on the border between Somalia and Kenya in order to increase support to
IDP’s and refugees in the border areas. The likely outcome is that both KRCS and SRCS wil
strenghten their activities on their respective side of the border.
Turkana Hub:
- Relief distribution to schools: 123 MT distributed to 210 schools to date.
- School hygiene promotion programme: Sensitization meetings about the programme with the
Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Health and sanitization officials were held in Turkana
Central and South; Recruitment of volunteers in Turkana central and Turkana South and now
awaiting training on school Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion.
- Medical outreach: Total number of beneficiaries to date is 20,374.
North Eastern Hub (Wajir, Mandera and Garissa):
- Supplementary school feeding: Post distribution monitoring is ongoing. 150 metric tonnes has
been distributed; 52 schools have been reached.
- Health intervention: A nutrition assessment took place in Basir on 29-30/08/11, and three
medical outreaches were conducted in Barji in Wajir West (01/09/11), Hote and Orgoji in Wajir
North (05-06/09/11) reaching 1805 people.
- Water and sanitation: a hydro geologist seconded from the Ministry of Water was deployed to
Wajir. An assessment team from Davis and Shirtliff is carrying out assessments on borehole
rehabilitation in Machesa, Griftu and Selemac. Water trucking activities targeting 19 schools in
Wajir and seven in Mandela, reached 6979 students.
Marsabit Hub:
- Health intervention: Three medical outreaches were conducted during the reporting period in
Leyai, Kubi Qalo and Boru Haro locations with a total of 1226 beneficiaries reached.
Medium to Long Term:
-
-
-
KRCS has committed that part of the funds raised for the Kenya for Kenyans campaign will be
allocated to medium to long term food security work that provide pastoralists with livelihood
diversification options.
KRCS is committed to putting medium to long term interventions at the heart of its drought
response strategy. The revised appeal reflects a series of interventions that will provide long
term food security for aid dependent pastoralists.
An IFRC/KRCS advocacy document, “Preventing the Next Disaster” has been drafted based on
KRCS’s experience in non-rain fed agriculture. It is due to be released over the coming two
weeks.
Ethiopia
Tenders for food, water tanks, and water trucking procurement were completed. The Ethiopian Red
Cross (ERCS) is working to finalise the process and draft contracts.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
4 I FACT SHEET/ Drought in the Horn of Africa / 9 September 2011
The High Level Coordinator HoA and the IFRC Ethiopia Office have agreed on setting up an
operational structure for the drought operations with focus on water access.
The assessment mission in Oromia Region (Borena, Guji, and Bale zones) was completed and the
final report is due 09/09/11.
UNHCR and the authorities started the registration of approximately 20,000 refugees who crossed
into Ethiopia from Somalia in Gode Zone of Somali Region. Some 10,000-25,000 refugees from
Sudan entered Ethiopia via the Beneshangul-Gumuz Region, fleeing the conflict in Sudan (Blue
Nile).
ERCS is sending three medical teams to Gode to carry out life saving treatments for the 20,000
vulnerable beneficiaries that have crossed the border from Somalia. ERCS and IFRC are sending a
rapid assessment team to Dollo Ado, looking at and assessing a new camp being planned by
UNHCR (80,000 beneficiaries) with the possibility to get an exclusive agreement on services
functions in the camp.
Djibouti
The IFRC has established presence in Djibouti.
The assessment has been completed and an emergency appeal has been drafted and will be
submitted to GVA once the budget is finalized. The appeal will be focussing on the following three
components:
1) A community-based intervention centred around training, supervising and deploying Djibouti Red
Crescent volunteers for the prevention of malnutrition targeting the most vulnerable families in
Balbala (a slum area of Djibouti ville) and selected rural localities based on acute needs.
2) Hygiene promotion and prevention of "Acute Watery Diarrhoea" (cholera under a different name)
and other water-borne diseases in Balbala and in selected rural areas.
3) Distribution of non food items (hygiene kits, jerry cans and kitchen sets) to 5,000 families (25,000
beneficiaries) in rural areas and to 6,000 families (30,000 individuals) in Balbala.
Somalia
The Somali Red Crescent branch in Garowe, Nugaal Region of Puntland, distributed relief items to
200 newly arrived internally displaced families. It also dug four shallow wells at the new site of the
IDPs camp in Garowe town.
The Somali Red Crescent Coordination office in Mogadishu established a mechanism to coordinate
the relief efforts from supporting national societies. Currently, three national Societies are operating
in Mogadishu: the Turkish Red Crescent, Iranian Red Crescent and Qatar Red Crescent.
The Somali Red Crescent in Galkayo, Mudug region of Puntland is working on the extension of
water pipes to the distribution point at the new IDP camp in Goldogob village, 90 Km North West of
Galkayo at the border with Ethiopia.
Somali Red Crescent is also planning to increase its activities along the Kenyan boarder, setting up
a new health post and deploying two mobile health teams. This would be in cooperation with the
Kenya Red Cross.
Tanzania
A Food Security assessment was scheduled to conclude by 1st September. IFRC is awaiting the
distribution of the report from the National Society.
A second detailed Food Security Assessment is scheduled to begin on 12 September which will
concentrate on a technical analysis of the Food Security situation in selected villages. IFRC made a
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
5 I FACT SHEET/ Drought in the Horn of Africa / 9 September 2011
recommendation to the National Society that they consider launching a DREF to support an
emergency intervention in Northern Tanzania. This intervention would target specific populations
who face chronic humanitarian needs which have been exasperated as a result of drought
conditions in this part of the country.
Funding update
Appeal
Kenya
Ethiopia
Amount sought
14,692,020 CHF
10,978,250 CHF
Total pledges
6,810,865
4,363,870
Percentage funded
46%
40%
Emergency Appeals are being revised to reflect changes that include scaling up IFRC support in
Ethiopia and Kenya. In view of the deteriorating situation in the Somali regions of Puntland and
Somaliland the IFRC Somalia annual plan has been revised into an Emergency Appeal for Somalia
and will be launched in the coming week. In response to worsening drought and food
insecurity/famine in Somalia, the Iranian Red Crescent has generously flown- in nine cargo
airplanes, and one ship containing vast amounts of food and relief items. Although the surge of
solidarity and support coming from the RCRC family is commendable, the IFRC would like to remind
our generous members that all should respond to the needs in a coordinated manner according to
the official guidelines of the Federation for all in-kind contributions and follow the requests posted on
the mobilisation tables in line with an emergency appeal.
For further information, please contact:
Halvor Lauritzsen, High Level Coordinator IFRC: +254 (0) 0731583226
halvor.lauritzsen@ifrc.org for operations in HoA
Alexander Matheou, Regional Representative IFRC: +254 (0) 719888666
alexander.matheou@ifrc.org for operations and cooperation
Douglas Masika, Senior Resource Mobilization Officer: + 254 720 461 226
douglas.masika@ifrc.org for donor contributions
Nancy Okwengu, Senior Communication officer, IFRC; +254 733 632 946
nancy.okwengu@ifrc.org for regular updates
Visit www.ifrc.org/hornofafrica for stories, photos, Q&A and opinion pieces.