While a War Rages in Ukraine, A Global Crisis is Escalating in Somalia | Foreign Correspondent

Somalia is one of the most dangerous and devastated places on Earth there's conflict what was that and climate change this is the worst throughout Somalia FR experience and more than 7 million people affected by the drought there is also a terrorist threat it's forced a staggering number of people from their homes and put parts of the country on the brink of famine all while most of the world is focused on the war in Ukraine bad things happen Mass migration and when people are in the move there is nothing that is going to stop them Somalia has a reputation for being a hellscape and many parts of it are but there is so much more to this country and its people amid this record-breaking drought is an immense amount of resilience and determination I'll give this mother some credits they are strong that's what I can say you can see she's still holding on to hope that tomorrow will be better I see the talents but I see the opportunities and I very much really hopeful that we have more variety for user for this country [Music] Somalia sits on the Horn of Africa it has the longest coastline on the continent but is beset by drought and terrorism we're flying to dolo a town that's under government control but danger isn't far away down there he's asked about territory oh in this part of Somalia we have to travel in armored cars with armed security everywhere we go [Music] people from neighboring areas especially areas on the expectation that they will get some humanitarian relief I see the cams swelling more and more the influx is just unprecedented two years ago this camp on the outskirts of town didn't exist now it's home to 30 000 people [Music] Works beginning on a home for this family who got here yesterday okay as we're filming a caravan of new arrivals appears on the horizon [Music] [Music] they're exhausted and have barely any possessions foreign they've been walking for 10 nights with no food and very little water there's at least one child that's malnourished they're currently getting registered they'll be given a plot of land to set up a tent and then this will be their home for who knows how long and the thing that the camera can't show you is just how hot and unforgiving it is here dust storms blow through the barren Camp blanketing everything and everyone Aisha sugal has arrived with her two children one-year-old hamdo and two-year-old Muhammad the boy is malnourished wow [Music] she's walked 30 kilometers a day for 10 days she's seven months pregnant she was desperate to escape from al-shabab's control there was no room on the donkey cart to bring her three and four-year-old daughters she left them behind with her husband [Music] him or yeah actually while the first groups being registered hundreds more new arrivals walk in all needing shelter and food the world food program is feeding more people in Somalia than ever before [Music] foreign [Music] we've just been bundled into the car by our security team because they found a man on the phone telling someone about our position and because we know that al-shabab are not far from here oh my God a couple of kilometers from the camp the dollar hospital is where you find the most devastating consequences of this drought and conflict nutrition coordinator for the NGO trochair Pamela wesonga has been working in Somalia since the last famine in 2011. it's really getting worse when we look at the data most of the children that are coming in they are in a very bad situation hello oh how many admissions today eight admissions Pamela goes to check on two-year-old Calson who came in with her mum hafe five days ago she weighs just 6.9 kilograms half of what a healthy toddler her age should be a um [Music] despite how sick she looks calson's prognosis in the short term is good foreign [Music] children here they pass on on the same day of admission if a child survives The First 48 Hours really there's no reason why we should lose a child the U.N believes at least 40 000 somalis may have already died because of this hunger crisis half being children under five it will likely get worse with Imports used to come from Russia and Ukraine consequently the price of the food across the entire home of Africa has increased by 49 percent traditional donors more or less wash their hands from Somalia and if that continues we'll see a huge catastrophe in this country this year [Music] the newest arrivals to the clinic are Habiba Ibrahim Nua and her four children the youngest the one who's really very severely malnourished but she's in a very very bad situation if I may say yeah but I'm hopeful with the care that we are giving I'm hopeful a single mother surviving on a dollar or two a day if she's lucky she does what it takes to try to keep her hungry children happy yeah [Music] habiba's nine-year-old daughter Sapphire stands by her mum's side when Habiba goes to town to find work washing clothes Sapphire looks after the other kids at the camp aign to look at her to me I think she's strong he's hanging in there she needs the women are very resilient they are strong that's what I can say because when you look at the conditions they've passed through or they are in you can see she's still holding on to hope that tomorrow will be better [Music] these mothers and their kids are in many ways the lucky ones they've been able to escape our shabab territory in order to get help we know that there are people that are completely cut off from Services because for them to get to where the services are they would probably need to pass one of the areas that are controlled by them then it means that they can't come or likewise we can't go to them the terrorist group al-shabab holds large swathes of territory across Somalia and has operatives in the capital Mogadishu [Music] this is mogadishu's airport and you can see all the UN planes and helicopters behind me it's one of the most heavily fortified and secure places in the entire country but even here isn't safe just a few days before we arrived al-shabab terrorists launched a mortar attack that landed inside the compounds foreign [Music] I'm very challenged myself I survived so many times the terrorist attack including my home including while I was traveling on the road I survived a suicide bomb so you're dealing with that daily challenge and and threats I remember one of my colleagues in the cabinet he was killed by his niece he killed him so when you leave that reality you don't know who you trust inside the airport compound I'm meeting Abdi Rahman Abdi Shakur the Somali president's special Envoy for drought when you are living in foreign [Music] after more than a decade of deadly terrorist attacks authorities are fed up and last year the government launched an all-out war against the insurgents they have the backing of the United States somalia's neighbors and most importantly somalis themselves when the community comes against you and you are Insurgent living among the public uh I think your time is over it's like fish in the water if the water rejects the fish I don't think fish can survive and show up are now rejected by Somali public and Somali people are now Uprising against them and government are providing leadership to fight against them the un's humanitarian coordinator in Somalia Adam Abdel mullah first worked here more than 20 years ago and says success isn't guaranteed the government continues to move from one operation theater to the next so it is holding capabilities are very limited the recover an area they move to the next and in some cases comes back and takes over the territory again but the government is resolute in my opinion in my calculation in my understanding this is the beginning of the end of al-shabbat to see what a peaceful Somalia could look like we're going to the country's North to a place called Somaliland this region declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991 but it hasn't been recognized internationally [Music] al-shabab hasn't been able to gain a foothold here and the sense of freedom in the capital hargeisa is a total contrast to Mogadishu [Music] Somaliland is a testament to what peace could bring you see a bustling City Empire with any other major city in Africa the leaders did not create all of this the leaders provided stability and peace and the people did the rest and what happened in hargesa could happen in any part of Somalia if the leaders bring about peace this is our downtown these were all the markets of the business come and people come here to buy their food clothes so this is the market where you know everybody come to also greet each other it'll take us about two hours to get to the tea shop walking through hargesa with Abdi Rashid duale is like being with a rock star he's the CEO of the biggest Money Transfer Company in the Horn of Africa and is one of the wealthiest people in the region [Music] he says this part of the world is misrepresented people read just one bomb went off and they think entire Somali people are either killing each other or fighting it's not true you can see how relaxed it is how calm it is I'll be about doing business together Pace like this across Somalia could pave the way for the country to focus on its bigger fight against climate change or independent people there were people who do their best they are not expecting eight you know they were by Nature self-reliant people but climate change is beyond their control about a hundred kilometers from the city of hargeizer are the bone dry Plains of togdir goat herder salaban Farah scours the landscape for signs of life everything around him is dying but he needs to feed his goats [Music] thank you foreign droughts are not new to the Horn of Africa but there hasn't been one quite like this people say that this is the worst drought in 40 years but that's wrong this is the worst drought in somalia's history period Sullivan's neighbors animals hear the sound of leaves falling from branches but this little nourishment is too hard one to share hello foreign if we go back to the 2011 2012 famine it was a result of three failed rainy Seasons we have already surpassed five and the six is in the horizon so it is catastrophic by all accounts climate change is accelerating and intensifying livestock is somalia's biggest export industry and a vital commodity for families these animals provide milk meat and an asset to sell when they need cash [Music] um foreign [Music] we're bad two years into this drought the toll on salaban's family has been immense he's had to bury his wife and two children um once a week celiban and his brother have to walk for hours to take their animals to water hi hi hey hey [Music] this is the well on the edge of a village called Hara Shake where families have dug holes inside a dry Dam bed to reach water [Music] are you talking about it [Music] [Music] [Music] hanging on to the to them their livelihoods over the past two years they've watched their animals die by the hundreds the main rainy season is supposed to start right now and if it fails like the last five they could lose everything here in Harris Sheikh away from the rest of the family leaves salaban's 15 year old daughter Hinder [Music] foreign [Music] from school she puts her books aside gets changed and starts work in her Grandma's shop nearly 2 million children in Somalia have dropped out of school because of the drought kind of fears she may be forced to join them [Music] thank you Sullivan wonders what their future may hold if he loses his animals America is [Music] when I was here in Somalia 20 years ago 66 of the Somali territory was covered in vegetation percentage is 17 percent of two decades is it accurate to keep referring to Somalia as an agro pastoralist country I don't think the description is accurate now [Applause] with the help of international Aid hinder is determined to complete her education foreign [Music] they give you one tutorial one two three four five foreign and an insurance policy against the devastating effects of climate change oh yeah [Music] foreign [Music] oh yeah [Music]

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 1,360,798

Keywords: Foreign Correspondent, Somalia, al shabaab, famine, food shortage, UN, Food relief, somalia documentary, abc news, abc, abc news australia, Surviving in somalia, food crisis somalia, food shortage somalia, hargeisa, somaliland, somalia news, dollow somalia, somalian migration, somalian famine, somali documentary, 2023, somali crisis, somalia crisis

Id: wo-TKdMNSKU

Length: 30min 4sec (1804 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023