NAIROBI, Kenya (IRIN) - The effects of lingering regional drought have hit pastoralist communities in the small Red Sea country of Djibouti hard, and have resulted in drought-displaced populations congregating in areas with little shelter and poor services. An appeal for US $11 million in relief assistance launched by UN agencies in February has not yet attracted any donor contributions, according to the latest information available to the UN Office for Regional Humanitarian Coordination, based in Addis Ababa.

"With an average annual rainfall of less than 200 mm, it does not take much rain to restore water points and pastures in Djibouti to "normal". However, according to a recent multi-agency assessment of conditions in Djibouti, since January 1999 the country has received less than 50 percent of normal rainfall, placing pastoralists in an increasingly difficult position.

Humanitarian sources told IRIN that, like nomadic communities elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, pastoralist families in Djibouti would move towards urban centres at times of drought in search of alternative work, assistance from family members or relief agencies, and, as a last resort, they would resort to begging.

With a population of about 650,000, Djibouti is one of the smallest countries in the Horn of Africa. Since war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998, Djibouti's modern deep-water port has become a vitally important conduit for Ethiopia's imports and exports, and a major source of revenue for the government of Djibouti. With its perceived affluence, the country continues to attract large numbers of migrants from neighbouring countries, especially Ethiopia. The largely service economy is fragile, however, with per capita incomes having fallen by over 40 percent in five years. Despite the recent increase in port activity, there appears to be no end in sight to the present economic crisis in the country, with civil servants, who make up more than 40 percent of the formally employed, facing months of delay in receiving salary payments.

While pastoral communities make up 20 percent of the population, live animals and skins are largely traded within Djibouti, and are not a major source of export earnings, according to the multi-agency assessment. The impact of the ban on livestock trade with the Horn of Africa has therefore not had the same impact on livelihoods in Djibouti as it had elsewhere in the region. Nonetheless, pastoralists depend heavily on local markets for income derived from the sale of animals and milk, and to purchase staple foods such as flour and rice. While a fall in animal prices, matched by a parallel rise in food prices, during the height of the drought in 1999 has shown some improvement in the last year, the current terms of trade remain below normal, and substantially worse than in neighbouring parts of Ethiopia and Somalia.

Humanitarian sources told IRIN that, though drought conditions in Djibouti had shown some improvement since last year, there was still concern that some pastoral and displaced populations were extremely vulnerable to malnutrition and disease because of poor livestock conditions and water supplies. Pastoral populations in Yoboki, Dorra, Obock and Ailala Dadda would continue to require assistance until sufficient rains fell to secure livestock production, the source said. Pastoralists needed to maintain present herd sizes and should be protected from selling their animals to purchase food, humanitarian agencies have recommended.

The majority of pastoralists in northern Djibouti are cattle-raising Afar, while in the south of the country, where the ethnic Somali Issa predominate, sheep and goats comprise the bulk of livestock herds. To allow a comparison between different livestock herds, experts today employ the Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU), for which a TLU of one is equivalent to a 250 kg animal. A camel, for example, would give 1.0 TLU, while a sheep or goat would be equivalent to a TLU of 0.1. According to a study undertaken by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Ethiopia last year, for pure pastoralists to ensure minimum food security, a TLU of per capita of 3.0 must be maintained, guaranteeing sufficient stock for consumption and sales. To be economically independent, therefore, a pastoralist family of five would need a herd of at least 150 sheep and goats.

Due to a lack of reliable data, the true impact of the drought on herd sizes in Djibouti is not known. According to a household survey conducted as part of the recent multi-agency assessment, the number of animals following the drought equates to a still relatively favourable per capita TLU of 2.8. However, approximately 75 percent of herds were less than 3.0 TLU - a measure consistent with pastoral families elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, where a concentration of large herds in the hands of a relatively small number of better-off families is becoming the norm.

According to the multi-agency assessment, the capital, Djibouti Ville, and other urban areas generally coped better with the drought because of greater diversification of livelihoods and access to more developed infrastructure. However, agencies noted that Djibouti nomads, especially women and children, had migrated to Djibouti Ville and other towns in search of alternative work or assistance from family or aid agencies, failing which they were resorting to begging. Impoverished and displaced families in Djibouti Ville risked high rates of malnutrition and associated diseases. Increased risk was attributed to increased numbers in slums already characterised by poor hygiene and sanitation, and also the reduced ability of family and community members to share increasingly scarce resources.

Faced with continuing severe humanitarian needs in the country as a result of the drought, agencies say more than a 100,000 people - just over 15 percent of the population - would need substantial food and other relief assistance until the end of this year. With no donor contributions in response to the UN appeal, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Bronek Szynalski is concerned over a possible deterioration of conditions in the country should the rains expected in July fail to materialise. "With Djibouti town inundated with by people displaced by the drought and impoverished migrants in search of work opportunities, there will be little prospect of longer-term recovery without substantial external support," he told IRIN. "