INTVS. & INSIGHTS

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 …

As Somalia experienced a failure of the initial portion of the Gu’ rains that are crucial for agricultural production, aid agencies have launched a Drought Response Plan calling for urgent and sustained resources to avert a major crisis. The plan seeks $710 million to provide critical life-saving aid to 4.5 …

Authorities in Puntland have issued an alarm over drought due to the continued lack of rain. The state formed a Drought Response Committee chaired by interior minister Mohamed Abdirahman Cabanas. Radio Ergo’s reporter Abdirahman Mohamed spoke with the minister to find out how serious the situation is and asked him …

Ahead of the onset of Gu’season in parts of Somalia, Jubbaland state has embarked on rehabilitation of Jubba river banks to avert flooding as witnessed last year. Radio Ergo’s reporter in Kismayo, Ahmed Abdi Toronto, asked Jubbaland deputy minister for agriculture, Mahdi Muhyadin Mohamed, what measures the government was putting in …

The aid agency Oxfam published a report this week warning that up to 1.7 million people in Somaliland are in critical need of humanitarian assistance.  This number has increased by hundreds of thousands in recent months. Radio Ergo correspondent Ilyas Abdi asked OXFAM’s head of communications in Somalia, Abdiaziz Ali …

 Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) in Kenya’s northeastern Mandera County have introduced a bill seeking to compel employers to provide childcare spaces in the workplace for breastfeeding women. The bill is being discussed with members of the public this week. Radio Ergo’s Fowzia Omar asked the sponsor of the …

Severe water shortage has hit some parts of Hiiraan region after boreholes and the river Shabelle dried up. Dozens of self-organised youth in Beledweyne town have started trucking water to the areas worst affected by the water shortage. Our reporter, Mohamed Hassan, has interviewed Mohamed Abdullahi Burale, one of youth …

SANA’A (SOHA) – The outbreak of civil war in Yemen in 2015 turned the tide for the roughly 250,000 Somalis who had fled Somalis conflict in the 1990s and made Yemen their second home. The Somali embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana’a has been working with the UN refugee Agency …

The Somali government and humanitarian agencies last week launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). The plan states that $1.08 billion is needed to stave off a humanitarian crisis in Somalia, following continued drought effects and other factors such as protracted conflicts in various parts of the country. Radio Ergo’s …

OTTAWA (SOHA) – The United Nations High Commission for refugees is seeking a greater global commitment in helping educate over a million children living in refugee camps in the horn of Africa who are out of school to help them build them a better future, it’s envoy for the region …