Kenya: Nomads threatened by famine – specific aid required

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) has called for specific aid for the Somali nomads who have been hit particularly hard by the famine in the Northeast of Kenya. "Several hundred thousand nomads desperately need not only food, but also internationally sponsored support programmes to prevent a mass dying of their cattle-herds” said the GfbV Africa expert Ulrich Delius on Thursday in Göttingen. In the Northeast of Kenya 30 percent of the cattle have died or have had to be slaughtered since December 2005 as a result of the famine.

"The aid provided by the Kenyan government so far has been quite inadequate to ensure the long-term survival of the nomads” warned Delius. The loss of their cattle herds means in the long run the destruction of the traditional way of life and culture of the 300,000 nomads of the Somali peoples of the Gurreh, Gosha and Hawiyah. Since they have no other means of supporting themselves apart from their livestock, they can buy neither corn nor any other urgently needed food and have no choice but to beg for help from the international relief organisations.

There is an urgent need for fodder and for international programmes for the purchase of cattle to prevent more misery for the nomads. With the emergency sale of their herds the cattle-breeders are trying to buy food, but in the light of rapidly rising food prices the prospects for the nomads is bleak.

The famine in the traditionally very dry regions of Mandera, Vajir, Garissa and Marsabit got worse since the rains which usually fall in the months between April and November were this year missing. At present 1.2 million people are dependent on assistance in the form of food supplies, but in March the figure will rise up to some 2.5 million. The assistance coming from abroad so far will suffice to help only the most needy until February.

The Northeast of Kenya is inhabited mainly by nomads of the Somali peoples. Nomads make up about 25 percent of the Kenyan population of 31 million. As a result of the rapid increase in the population and the expansion of farming they are being pushed back into ever more inhospitable regions. There are constant conflicts between nomads and farmers on the matters of land, pastures and access to waterholes.