STORY: UN warns of looming drought-related humanitarian

crisis in Somalia
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, SOMALI, NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 01/MAY/2019, BAIDOA,SOMALIA

1. Wide shot, Acting Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations

Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor
on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway,
Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, arriving at Baidoa airport
2. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, walking away after arriving in Baidoa
3. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, walking away after arriving in Baidoa
4. Wide shot, a humanitarian officer based in Baidoa briefing the delegation
5. Mid shot, a humanitarian officer based in Baidoa briefing the delegation
6. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, inspecting a water well
7. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, inspecting a water well
8. Wide shot, local residents fetching water from the well
9. Mid shot, local residents fetching water from the well
10. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, visiting a school
11. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with officials at the school
12. Mid shot, school principal briefing the delegation about the school
13. Wide shot, school principal taking to the delegation in one of the classrooms
14. Mid shot, school principal interacting with the Acting DSRSG in one of the
classrooms
15. Mid shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
the principal in one of the classrooms
16. SOUNDBITE: GEORGE CONWAY, ACTING DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE
OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL (DSRSG) FOR SOMALIA
“A major challenge right now is the underfunding of 2019 Humanitarian
Response Plan – currently in May– only funded 19 per cent for the year,
which is very worrying with the current extent of the humanitarian crisis that
is evolving as we see it now. And this requires strong advocacy with donors
and financing partners to expand and take the humanitarian response back
to scale, so we don’t find ourselves in Somalia in a situation where people are
moving increasingly into crisis and potentially over the edge into more
disastrous conditions.”

17. Wide shot, students seated in a classroom

18. Mid shot, students seated in a classroom
19. Wide shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
students in one of the classrooms
20. Wide shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
students in one of the classrooms
21. Mid shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
the students in one of the classrooms
22. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MONIKA AGNETE POLLAN THOWSEN, SENIOR
ADVISOR ON HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS OF NORWAY
“We are here together with the UN and the humanitarian fund to see a
couple of projects that have received funding through this fund. In addition,
we also have direct partnerships with the Norwegian Refugee Council, which
is a big NGO (non-governmental organization) in Somalia. We are also
supporting Save the Children and we have met with partners from those
organizations today. We have seen and visited a couple of projects. We have
met some of the people and we got the (opportunity) to interact and ask
questions and learn about the situation especially for the growing IDP
(internally displaced persons) population in this part of the country.”

23. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, taking photos of the students in one of the
classrooms
24. Mid shot, students applauding as the Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George
Conway, and Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, are leaving the
classrooms
25. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) MAHAD IBRAHIM ADAN, PRINCIPAL HOWLWADAAG
PRIMARY SCHOOL
“The beneficiaries of this school are children from the IDP (internally
displaced persons) camps whose parents cannot afford private schools. It’s
 hard for someone struggling with livelihoods to afford school. With the help
of READO (Rural Education and Agriculture Development Organization), we
are catering for these kids to receive education closer to their settlement.”
26. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, visiting an IDP camp
27. Mid shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
the IDPs at the camp
28. Close up shot, Senior Advisor on Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, interacting with
the IDPs at the camp
29. Mid shot, IDPs seated at the camp
30. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) NOORTA ABDI OSMAN, AN INTERNALLY DISPLACED
PERSON AT HAWLWADAAG CAMP
“Since coming here, our challenges multiplied. There is an extreme shortage
of water. There was no education for our children when we came but now
there is Hawlwadaag Primary School providing the much-needed learning
opportunities for our kids. The needs of the IDPs in this camp are huge and
we need assistance from the international community and the South West
administration.”

31. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, and the rest of the delegation at the office of the
President of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed
32. Close up shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, interacting with
the President of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed
33. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, interacting with the
President of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed
34. Wide shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, and the rest of the delegation at the office of the
President of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed
35. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) ABDIAZIZ HASSAN MOHAMED, PRESIDENT OF
SOUTH WEST STATE
“We received today a delegation that came to assess the humanitarian
situation in South West, particularly in Baidoa. They toured some IDP camps
and we collectively discussed the pressing challenges, mainly the delayed and
scant rains, and the possibility of the drought deteriorating into a crisis, [and]
how to mobilize resources to tackle the drought that is affecting our people.”

36. Mid shot, Acting DSRSG for Somalia, George Conway, and Senior Advisor on
Humanitarian Affairs from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Monika
Agnete Pollan Thowsen, posing for a group photo with the President of South
West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed
UN warns of looming drought-related humanitarian crisis in Somalia

Baidoa, 1 May 2019 – A senior United Nations official has cautioned that the harsh
drought conditions currently afflicting much of Somalia are likely to trigger a major
humanitarian crisis if urgent action is not taken to contain the situation.

During a visit to Baidoa, the interim capital of South West State, the Acting Deputy
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Somalia, George
Conway, issued the warning while he was assessing the effects of the prolonged
drought on vulnerable populations in the area.

“A major challenge right now is the underfunding of the 2019 Humanitarian

Response Plan, currently only funded to 19 percent for the year, which is very
worrying with the current extent of the humanitarian crisis that is evolving,” said Mr.
Conway, who is also the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator.

The DSRSG said the situation required strong advocacy with donor and financing
partners to bring the humanitarian response up to scale, “so we don’t find ourselves
in Somalia in a situation where people are moving increasingly into crisis and
potentially over the edge into more disastrous conditions.”

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), drought conditions in the 2018/19 Deyr rainy season have led to an increase
in the number of people designated as “food insecure” in Somalia since October of
last year. OCHA warned that a deterioration into crisis conditions is expected in
many pastoral and agro-pastoral areas during the month of May, due to funding
shortfalls that may hamper a full implementation of the planned food assistance.

Mr. Conway was accompanied by Monika Agnete Pollan Thowsen, senior advisor on
humanitarian affairs at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Svein Olav Svoldal,
first secretary at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi, and Matija Kovac, the
head of OCHA’s Humanitarian Financing Unit.

The day-long trip included a visit to temporary shelters in Baidoa to assess the living
conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and weigh up appropriate measures
to alleviate their suffering.
The visiting delegation also held discussions on the unfolding humanitarian crisis
with the President of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed “Laftagareen,”
and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who work with IDPs.

“Today we received a delegation that came to assess the humanitarian situation in

South West, particularly in Baidoa. We discussed the pressing challenges – mainly
the delayed rains, how to scale up humanitarian response, and how to mobilize
resources to tackle the drought affecting our people,” President Laftagareen said.
Last year, a drought spanning four consecutive below average rainy seasons left
about 6.2 million people in need of emergency aid such as food, water and shelter.
That prompted the UN to launch an aid appeal of $1.6 billion to help address the
crisis.

To prevent the situation from worsening, the Norwegian government is already

supporting a number of projects in Baidoa and planning to boost humanitarian
support in South West State in conjunction with the UN.

“We are on a monitoring mission to Baidoa together with the UN and the Somalia
Humanitarian Fund. We have a partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council and
we support Save The Children. We were able to interact with IDP communities and
learned the current challenges faced by the growing IDP population,” observed Ms.
Thowsen.

Noorta Abdi Osman was displaced by the drought from the settlement of Hawaal
Barbaar, which is situated 30 kilometres outside of Baidoa. She lamented the
shortage of water and the mounting humanitarian needs at the Hawlwadaag camp
where she is now living.

“Our challenges have doubled since coming here -- shortage of water, no food to
eat, and no end in sight to the drought. We seek assistance from the international
community and the South West administration,” Ms. Osman said.

Fadumo Ali Mohamed, a 45-year-old mother who was also displaced by the
prolonged drought in the Bakool region of the state, thanked the donors for
constructing a borehole in the Hanaano camp because the project has helped
alleviate their plight.

The delegation also visited a school project at the Hawlwadaag camp to witness the
efforts being made by local NGOs to educate children uprooted by the ongoing
drought.