NAN-F-60
Drought
Mogadishu, March 21, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Thousands of people in drought-stricken Somalia are heading to cities in search of food, water and medical help, as the crisis continues to claim lives, Mogadishu Mayor Hussien Jimale said on Tuesday.
He said such areas the capital Mogadishu, adding that authorities were struggling to help the new arrivals.
“We are welcoming our brothers and sisters with whatever we can, however, the displaced people are to be moved to temporary sites on the outskirts of the capital.
“People have already lost their livelihoods where they came from as drought took the lives of so many of their livestock.
“They need shelters, food, clean water and medicine,”Jimale said.
Officials in the port city of Kismaayo said that no fewer than 30 people died of hunger last weekend.
“Most of them children and the elderly.
“The deaths occurred in the Gedo and Lower Juba regions, a local government official Kismayo Janan said.
Mohamed Sayid, a local elder in Garbahare said that two more children had died of starvation.
“We are witnessing poor persons, among them children dying in front of us for reasons of hunger, cholera and starvation,’’ he said. (dpa /NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Ese E. Ekama