UNICEF SOMALIA EMERGENCY COUNTRY PROFILE May 1999 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY OF BASIC DATA............................................................................................................1 PART 1: BACKGROUND..................................................................................................................4 A) SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT...............................................................4 B) CURRENT SITUATION...........................................................................9 C) SECURITY............................................................................................11 D) SITUATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN...........................................13 PART II: UNICEF EMERGENCY PROGRAMME IN SOMALIA.......................................................16 HEALTH ....................................................................................................16 WATER AND SANITATION.......................................................................17 BASIC EDUCATION.................................................................................18 COORDINATION, COMMUNICATION AND ADVOCACY .........................20 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE ................................21 STAFF.......................................................................................................23 FUNDING .................................................................................................24 COOPERATION WITH UN/NGOs/ INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS .......................................................24 SOMALIA=S COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN ............................................24 SOMALIA EMERGENCY COUNTRY PROFILE, May 1999 PAGE 1 SOMALIA COUNTRY PROFILE (MAY 1999) SUMMARY OF BASIC DATA Population: Estimates range from 5.4m to 6.6m Population Under 5: Approximately 0.92m Female Population: 3.27 million (US Bureau of Census, 1997) Main towns: Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Bossaso, Kismayo, Berbera, Baidoa, Galkaio. Climate: Hot, dry with average temperature of 27C. Land area (sq km): 637,657 Languages: Af-Somali. Average life expectancy: 48 years % of urban/rural population below poverty 40/70 line (1980-89): GNP/1993 (US$ per capita): Low income 110 (1990) Education Net primary school enrolment (%gross, male/female/total): Northwest Zone - >Somaliland> - (NWZ), 1996: 23/12/17% Northeast Zone (NEZ), 1998: 18/14/16% Children 9 - 14 years currently enrolled who reached at least grade 4: NWZ: 22% NEZ: 20% Children 6 - 14 years enrolled in Koranic school: NEZ: 37% $613 operating schools exist in Somalia. This equals 80% of the total number of 773 primary schools that were found. $about 153,000 pupils are enrolled in primary schools. About two fifths (38%) of them are girls. $ only a quarter of schools (24%) have grades 1 - 4 and at least some of them grades 5 - 8. A mere 3% of schools have a full primary school repertoire with all grades 1 - 8. Male: 36% Female: 14% Adult literacy rate SOMALIA EMERGENCY COUNTRY PROFILE, May 1999 PAGE 2 Economy Heavily dependent on livestock, remittances and cash crops - mostly bananas. Over the last decade production (mainly cereals) has declined in Bay and Bakool regions due to prolonged warfare. From November 1998, drought has adversely affected food and livestock production in parts of North, Central and Southern Somalia. Administration Somalia has been without a government since the fall of the Siad Barre. Culture The population of Somalia shares the same language, religion and culture, but it is sharply divided along clan/tribal lines. The five principle clans are: Dir, Isaaq, Hawiye, Darod and Rahanweyn/Digil. Besides that, there are some non clan-based, ethnic minority groups such as Bantus. Children=s Rights Somalia is the only country in the world, together with the United States of America, which never ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Children's rights to basic services, including adequate health care, nutrition, water and sanitation, and basic education, are very far from being met. The same is true for rights to protection and participation. It has no government or legislative body to follow up and enforce issues related to the CRC. This complicates rights-based interventions and requires a very localised approach which brings in religious leaders, local authorities and influential and respected personalities. Infant Mortality Rate - IMR - (per 1,000 births): 125 Under Five Mortality Rate - U5MR - (per 1,000 births) 211 Major immediate causes: diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections (ARI includes pneumonia), measles, malaria and neonatal tetanus. Major underlying causes: Malnutrition, anaemia, unattended births, female genital mutilation. Basic causes: Low status of women, high illiteracy, poverty, civil unrest and lack of government. Maternal Mortality Rate - MMR- 1,600 (per 100,000 births) Child immunisation (% children 12 - 23 NWZ NEZ months) DPT/OPV3 20% 27% Measles 45% 40% BCG 37% 49% Mothers with children 0 - 11 months immunised 10% (NWZ) with TT2+ 39% (NEZ) Malnutrition % of children under five years malnourished: NEZ: SOMALIA EMERGENCY COUNTRY PROFILE, May 1999 PAGE 3 weight-for-height (wasting): 12% height-for-age (stunting): 14% weight-for-age (underweight): 18% (all above moderate + severe) weight-for-height (severe): 2% NWZ: weight-for-height (moderate + severe): 8% weight-for-height (severe): 2% Breastfeeding NWZ NEZ % received colostrum 89 95 % children 0 - 4 months exclusively breastfed 7 1 % children received timely complementary feeding 38 11 % children with continued breastfeeding at 20-23 months 9 7 % children < 1 yr bottlefed 38 34 Diarrhoea management % of cases where ORT (new definition) used: NWZ: 11% NEZ: 4% Access to safe water: NWZ: 31% NEZ: 19% Access to adequate sanitation: NWZ: 43% NEZ: 34% Human Development Index Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1996, Somalia ranked number 172 out of 174 countries on UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI), thus falling into the category of Least Developed Country. In 1997, the country was excluded from ranking on the HDI due to lack of data, but there is little reason to believe that the rating got any better. Latest Update: May 1999 Unless otherwise stated, statistics have been derived from the following sources: For Northwest Zone - NWZ - (>Somaliland=): Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, Northwest Zone (>Somaliland); UNICEF, August, 1996 For Northeast Zone (NEZ): Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, Northeast Zone Somalia; UNICEF Somalia, April 1998. Education data for whole of Somalia: Survey of Primary Schools in Somalia; UNICEF Somalia, September 1998. SOMALIA EMERGENCY COUNTRY PROFILE, May 1999 PAGE 4 PART I: BACKGROUND A. Socio-Political Context In 1969, the president of Somalia was assassinated and the army seized power under General Mohamed Siad Barre. As the president's popular support began to wane in the late 1970s, the government gave support to the Western Somalia Liberation Front (WSLF), which was carrying out a guerrilla war in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia to divert attention from issues at home. In 1977 the Somali Army launched an offensive into the Ogaden region, but after losing the support of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Somali forces withdrew from Ethiopia in March 1978 with heavy losses. However, guerrilla war in the Ogaden continued until 1979-80 when huge numbers of WSLF fighters and ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden region crossed the border into Somalia fleeing from fighting and drought. Several opposition groups to the Somali government were formed in the 1980s, each based on a particular clan or sub-clan. As the president's support further deteriorated in late 1989, riots began in Mogadishu and, in late 1990, fighting against government forces intensified as opposition groups formed alliances. President Siad Barre fled south from the capital on 26 January 1991. Since then, Somalia has been without a government. After Barre’s flight, one of the opposition groups, the United Somali Congress (USC), swore in Mr Ali Mahdi as an interim president for Somalia. This was rejected by other opposition groups, the Somalia National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM). As armed clan groups fought for control of territory, food production and distribution systems collapsed. The resulting anarchy forced an estimated 800,000 Somalis into exile in neighbouring countries, while more than one million displaced persons swarmed into urban areas where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) struggled to provide food and other humanitarian assistance. An estimated 4.5 million Somalis were in need of external food aid, including approximately 1.5 million at severe risk of starvation. The UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) began in early 1992 with the appointment of the Special Representative of the Secretary General to coordinate UN political and humanitarian activities. In mid- 1992, UNOSOM was strengthened by a group of unarmed military observers, followed by a small force of lightly-armed peacekeepers to protect humanitarian installations. At about this time, UNICEF extended operations to Baidoa in the centre of the famine-affected area. In August 1992, the US government launched a military airlift to deliver food to Somalia. Various other donors followed suit. Then, in early December 1992, the United Nations Security Council gave its approval to military intervention by the US-led Unified Task Force (UNITAF) to secure the delivery of humanitarian supplies. On May 4, 1993,