DJIBOUTI: Drought-affected area hosts refugees

DJIBOUTI, 13 July (IRIN) - Hundreds of Ethiopians have been crossing from drought-stricken border regions into southern Djibouti. Local officials told IRIN on Thursday they had set up temporary shelters on the fringes of Asiela town, near the border, and they suggested that the best way to stop the exodus would be through the delivery of humanitarian aid.

About 1,000 who arrived in June were visited by representatives from WFP, UNHCR, ICRC and USAID. Local officials have provided some assistance and are appealing to aid agencies to help with food and medical care. Last month, three Ethiopians, weakened by hunger, died because of lack of medical care, local officials told IRIN. Others were arriving in Bondara, southern Djibouti, and a small group of about 200 received local assistance in the regional capital, Dikhil.

District Commissioner Musa Jama, in Dikhil, told IRIN that Ethiopians had been crossing into Djibouti since May, and sometimes at the rate of up to 30 a day. He said they had been registered as arriving from Darin, Marou, Omarguluf, Karle, Harisa, Ma'ardo and Airur villages in northeastern Ethiopia. Many complained they had lost all their livestock because of drought in the isolated semi-desert regioins of northeast Ethiopia.

Jama, also said southern Djibouti was suffering from drought, causing internal migration and a steep drop in livestock prics. A goat, for example, worth about 4,000 Djibouti Francs before January, is now worth about 1,000 Djibouti Francs. Some families are unable to bring their livestock to market because the animals are too weak, added Jama. He said southern Djibouti had effectively been without rains for the last three years, and water was consequently very low in the wells.

Since April, Doudauya and Gaggare in southern Djibouti have been the most affected, causing migration out of the countryside into the towns, and from the towns into the capital. The district commissioner told IRIN that with no good census it was difficult for government officials and aid agencies to know what percentage of the population was affected. Many families in the southern villages are supported by working relatives in Djibouti capital, who have recently been affected by late wages and general economic decline, he said.