§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Sool Plateau in Somalia; and what assistance he has offered. [141369]
§ Hilary BennApproximately 90,000 pastoralists are at risk from the failure of the autumn rains in northern Somalia. The global malnutrition rate for the Sool plateau is just under 14 per cent., which indicates the need for close monitoring rather than immediate intervention.
The humanitarian response includes: greater use of targeted family rations by WFP alongside UNICEF's supplementary feeding programme to screened children, monitoring of the health and nutrition situation; cash assistance to allow communities meet their non-food needs especially water, transport for livestock and/or people and to some extent pay up for accumulated credit; emergency water provision; emergency health services provision and veterinary services.
A United Nations assessment found a difficult situation although not yet a humanitarian crisis. We are envisaging a contribution to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs emergency response fund that is likely to appear as an amendment to the 2004 Consolidated Appeal for Somalia. The UN's Children Fund received £1 million from DFID for its health and nutrition work in Somalia in March 2003. We will be making some further contributions to meet humanitarian needs in Somalia very soon.