The International Rescue Committee (IRC) re-entered Somalia in 2007 for the first time since 2003 in the wake of a dramatic deterioration in the country’s humanitarian situation. Somalia has had no effective government since 1991. In December 2006, a transitional government backed by Ethiopian troops threw out Islamists who had taken control of Mogadishu. Since then, Islamist insurgents have continued to fight the government for control of the country, despite the election of a new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad. The fighting has displaced more than 1.3 million people.

To further compound matters, Somalia is currently in the grip of its worst drought in a decade and 45 percent  of the population is suffering from malnutrition.

How We Help

In 2007, the IRC assessed the needs of people living in drought-affected south Mudug - an area where tens of thousands of displaced people have fled from the capital Mogadishu and elsewhere. We found that communities in this region lacked clean drinking water and good sanitation and suffered from frequent health problems.
 
As a result, later that year the IRC opened a field office in Gaalkacyo, a town which is host to more than 50,000 displaced people. The IRC provides emergency environmental health and livelihoods assistance to both displaced people and  the wider Gaalkacyo community. For example, our programs to rehabilitate hand-dug wells and boreholes and to truck water and construct latrines  directly benefit approximately 80,000 people.

LATEST: Piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia are grabbing headlines, but they must not divert attention from the humanitarian crisis facing millions of Somalis struggling to survive.
IRC Statement  l  Letter to President Obama

Voices from the Field