ADAADO (SoOHA) – Hassan Aabi is carrying the weight of a huge burden on his shoulders as he counts off the days before the debt collectors come for him again.   With his pitifully depleted herd of 23 feeble goats, Hassan is struggling to support his three wives and 23 children in Benyo-ad village, 25 km south of Guriel in Galgadud.   Earlier this month, his creditors had him arrested and they …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – UN agencies have kicked off a four-day vaccination drive against polio in Somalia’s Puntland and Somaliland, targeting more than 945,000 children under five years of age. The campaign, which is backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), targets all children in 12 …

BAIDOA (SoOHA)  – IOM has started the relocation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were at risk of eviction to the newly developed public site in Baidoa. Some 682 households, consisting of 3,914 individuals drawn from 12 out of 15 targeted IDP sites have been relocated to the new Baidoa public …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – Today, Somalia is launching one of Africa’s largest immunization campaigns using oral cholera vaccines (OCV). The campaign, which runs from 22-28 June 2019 in high-risk areas of Somalia, will vaccinate more than 650,000 people aged one year and above to eliminate the risk of the disease among vulnerable …

NAIROBI (SoOHA) – Two camps opened to host those who fled the 2011 famine in Somalia have been closed and handed to the Kenyan government. Kenya said the action was part of its effort to close Dadaab, the huge camp complex that has hosted refugees for nearly three decades. The …

Last month, the aid community in Somalia issued an urgent call for support as unexpectedly poor rains have left 2.2 million people facing severe or emergency food insecurity — half a million more than originally predicted. The United Nations is asking for $710 million to provide emergency assistance to a third of Somalis by the end of the …

ADAADO (SoOHA) – Two children have died and 300 others are infected in a diarrhoea outbreak in Eldibir village, Galmudug state health ministry has reported. The ministry dispatched a delegation led by Dr Mohamed Ali Kahiye to assess the situation in Eldibir. Speaking to Radio Ergo by phone, Dr Mohamed …

On the eve of World Refugee Day, the acting head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Ken Cuccinelli, emailed asylum officers lamenting the country’s “abused” asylum system and calling on them to help “stem the crisis and better secure the homeland.” The message to get in line and deny more asylum …

GAROWE (SoOHA) –  HE Minister of Education and Higher Education in the State of Puntland in Somalia Abdullah Mohammed Hassan inaugurated the Dar es Salaam Primary School, which was built by Qatar Charity (QC) in the city of Garowe, funded by the good people of Qatar. The 400-square-meter school has …

GENEVA (SoOHA) –  The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million in 2018. This is the highest level that UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has seen in its almost 70 years. Data from UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released today, shows that almost 70.8 million people are …