MOGADISHU (Xinhua) — The United Nations humanitarian agency said Monday it requires 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in response to the needs of 5.2 million people in Somalia in 2024, a reduction of almost 40 percent compared to 2023.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia has decreased to 6.9 million in 2024 from 8.25 million in 2023.

“Humanitarian needs will remain high in Somalia in 2024 due to recurrent shocks, including climatic events such as drought and floods, conflict and insecurity, widespread poverty, and disease outbreaks,” the OCHA said in its monthly humanitarian Update released in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

The OCHA said these shocks will continue to drive humanitarian needs alongside underlying factors like multidimensional poverty with 55 percent of the population living below the national poverty line, lack of diversified livelihoods and equitable economic growth, political divisions and marginalization, and weak basic services delivery.

The OCHA said integrated response will be prioritized in 10 districts where the 2023 deyr floods have sharply exacerbated already high preexisting needs across sectors, leading to an increase in the number of people requiring assistance.

“Partners plan to enhance collaboration with development and international financing partners to support progress and scale-up in three areas – durable solutions, disaster risk reduction linked to water management, and social protection frameworks,” it said.

The agency said the El Nino phenomena, which led to heavy rains and floods between October to December 2023, is expected to continue, which is likely to lead to above normal Gu rains in March and early April. Projections by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Somali Water and Land Information Management indicate risk of flash and riverine floods.

The rains are forecast to end with a drier May and June period, posing agro-pastoral livelihood risks, it added.

“The anticipated above normal rains, inter-clan violence and insecurity are likely to generate a more severe humanitarian impact compared to risk projections made in early 2023, including a significant inflow of displaced people into urban and peri-urban areas,” it said.

This, according to the UN agency, will put pressure on the already stretched services and raise the need for food, water, sanitation, health, education, protection and livelihood assistance, especially in settlements hosting displaced people.

Tuesday January 30, 2024

The rise in pirate activity off Somalia suggests the impact of the Gaza war continues to spread across the region.

One Sri Lankan and one Iranian vessel are reported to have been freed following hijackings by Somali pirates.

Seychelles forces rescued a Sri Lankan fishing boat on Monday, according to President Wavel Ramkalawan’s office. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy said it had freed an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel.

The attacks on the vessels “by armed Somali pirates”, according to the Seychelles statement, raise further concerns over security in the region’s waters. Amid the war in Gaza, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have waged a campaign targeting ships in the Red Sea.

“Seychellois special military forces boarded the boat with utmost courage to take complete control of the vessel and rescue our Sri Lankan brothers,” the presidency said in the statement.

Sri Lanka had earlier reported that diplomats were talking with Somali authorities trying to ascertain the whereabouts of a fishing vessel and its six crew members.

The apparent abduction had come two weeks after Sri Lanka said it would join the US-led operation to protect merchant vessels sailing in the Red Sea against the Houthi attacks.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy announced that it had freed an Iranian fishing vessel hijacked off the coast of Somalia.

“The fishing vessel had been boarded by pirates and the crew taken as hostages,” Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal said, naming the vessel as the Iranian-flagged Iman.

An Indian naval warship had “ensured the successful release of all 17 crew members along with the boat,” he added.

The suspected hijackings in waters off Somalia have raised concerns that Somali pirates have resumed activity, a decade after they caused chaos in international shipping.

The hijacking of the Sri Lankan vessel occurred in international waters about 840 nautical miles (1,555km) east of Somalia, 1,100 nautical miles (2,040km) from Sri Lanka and north of Seychelles, Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya said.

Two to three armed men had arrived in a 23m (75-foot) vessel, boarded the fishing trawler, fired shots apparently to warn away other fishing boats nearby, and taken away the fishing trawler and the fishermen, said Susantha Kahawatta, a top official in Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Department.

Kahawatta added that all details of the abduction were provided by fishermen in the other trawlers, and they identified the attackers as Somali.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched scores of attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in response to Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

International naval forces previously patrolling the Gulf of Aden have diverted north into the Red Sea in a bid to halt the attacks.

That has sparked fears that Somali pirates could seek to exploit the vacuum. A first successful case of Somali piracy since 2017 was recorded in December.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES