PM Abiy Visits Drought Hit Somali Region

ADDIS ABABA – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed together with a high-level government delegation have today begun visiting drought affecting areas in the Somali regional state.

The delegation together with the regional President Mustafa Omer are also reviewing the relief efforts being undertaken, according to the PM office.

The officials started their visit from Kabribeyah.

“We visited Kabribayah this morning, which is one of many host communities in the Somali Regional State supporting drought affected displaced persons,” said the PM in a message on twitter.

The prime minister pledged to scale up “the provision of water trucks, food, animal feed and essential medicines”.

The government will also accelerate “the small dams projects we have embarked upon to support water management in lowland areas, as a pathway to circumventing future droughts,” he added.

National Disaster Risk Management Commission said nine of the eleven zones of Somali Regional states are already affected by the drought. Up to 3.3 million people are likely to require food assistance in the next three months, according to the Somali Region Drought Response Plan December 2021.

The commission is already engaged in various activities to supply food and non-food items to the affected regions in the country.

Last month, president of the region Mustafa said the current drought comes “at a very unfortunate moment for my region — just as we are beginning to reap the fruits of peace and stability”.

“If we fail to respond quickly and fully, the livelihoods of entire communities will be wiped out. We must not let this happen,” he said.