STORY: Somalia: Hunger and struggle for displaced communities in

besieged Xudur town

TRT: 5:40
SOURCE: UNSOM STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
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LANGUAGE: SOMALI/ENGLISH NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 17/JULY/2021, XUDUR, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot - a UN humanitarian plane takes off at the Aden Abdulle international airport
2. Close up shot - Olga Cherevko, UN OCHA Strategic Communication and Coordination
Officer
3. Wide shot - UN OCHA officials
4. Close up shot - a pilot during the flight
5. Med shot - a view from the inside of a plane landing at Xudur airfield
6. Wide shot - plane landing
7. Med shot - Abdinasir Arush, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management,
Southwest State of Somalia, gets off the plane
8. Wide shot - Minister Arush of Southwest State welcomes the delegation
9. Med shot - a team brief for the minister on arrival
10. Drive shot - Madaxwaarabe IDP camp
11. Wide shot - Madaxwaarabe IDP camp
12. Med shot - women sitting under a tree at Madaxwaarabe IDP camp
13. Close up shot - Fatuma Nishow Aliyow, an 80 year old Seating outside her makeshift
house
14. Wide shot - Fatuma Nishow Aliyow
15. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Fatuma Nishow Aliyow, an 80 year old Internally Displaced
Person at Madahwaraabe IDP camp
“We have not cooked for the last 4 days because we have no food to eat. We are
starving. We badly need to be supported,”

16. Close up shot - empty cooking fireplace

17. Wide shot - Daleeley IDP camp
18. Pan shot - a roof made out of paper boxes and sticks
19. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Fatuma Nishow Aliyow, an 80 year old Internally Displaced
Person at Madahwaraabe IDP camp
“We fled Al-Shabaab. They chased us, forcing us to seek shelter and support in this
camp. We are desperate, starving, and need something to eat,”

20. Med shot - the delegation visits Daleeley IDP camp

21. Med shot - women at the Daleeley IDP camp
22. Wide shot - Daleeley IDP camp
23. Wide shot - 75-year-old father of 10 children Mohamedkheyr Nur walks to his shelter
24. Med shot - Mohamedkheyr Nur enters his house
25. Close up shot - Mohamedkheyr Nur
26. Med shot - Mohamedkheyr Nur inside his house
27. Wide shot - the delegation talking to Mohamedkheyr Nur
28. Close up shot - Olga Cherevko, UN OCHA Strategic Communication and Coordination
Officer
29. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Mohamedkheyr Nur, 75-year-old father of 10 children at
Daleeley IDP camp
“My request to the donors is that I am a displaced person who lives here. We depend
entirely on humanitarian agencies and God for our survival. We are really suffering and
we request for food, decent shelter and school. We need a lot of support,”

30. Med shot - Minister Arush of Southwest State talking to the water engineers at Xudur
water pumping station
31. Close up shot - water meter
32. Close up shot - water tank
33. Close up shot - a water tank being filled
34. Wide shot - solar panels
35. Close up shot - the delegation taste the water
36. Med shot - the minister and a UN OCHA official
37. Tilt up shot - the minister and the delegation open taps at the water point
38. Wide shot - the minister and the delegation
39. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Abdinasir Arush, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster
Management, Southwest West State of Somalia
“These IDPs have many challenges. They were forced to flee their homes where they
lived for many years and where they had their livelihood, they now have no proper
 shelter, there is also very little food in the town as a result of the blockade and water is
also scarce. These basic needs are their biggest challenge,”

40. Wide shot - the delegation in a meeting with the Xudur district administration officials
41. Close up shot - Minister Arush of Southwest speaking
42. Close up shot - administration officials at the meeting
43. Close up shot - Olga Cherevko, UN OCHA Strategic Communication and Coordination
Officer
44. Med shot - Xudur District Commissioner Mohamed Maalim Ahmed speaking
45. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Mohamed Maalim Ahmed, Xudur District Commissioner
“The solution to this problem of displacement has been recurring. But what these IDPs
here need most is one is security, they need their safety to be guaranteed having been
forced to leave their homes by conflict, secondly, they need humanitarian assistance,
we appeal to the donors to support them,”

46. Wide shot - UN OCHA and partners meeting

47. Close up shot - Olga Cherevko taking notes
48. Close up shot - a partner from the MARDO organisation speaking
49. Wide shot - UN OCHA and partners meeting
50. Wide shot - the team leaving the room after the meeting
51. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Olga Cherevko, UN OCHA Strategic Communication and
Coordination Officer
“Gaps still exist, and people are still coming because they are being displaced by conflict
and drought,”

52. Wide shot - makeshift houses at Daleeley IDP camp

Somalia: Hunger and struggle for displaced communities in besieged Xudur town

Xudur, 12 August 2021 – Seated outside her makeshift home in the Madaxwaarabe internally
displaced people’s site in Xudur, 80-year-old mother of five Fatuma Nishow Aliyow does not
know where her next meal will come from.

“We have not cooked for the last four days because we have no food to eat. We are starving.
We badly need to be supported,” she says.
Three months ago, Al-Shabaab forcefully evicted Fatuma and her family from their home in
Moorigaabey village, 30 km northwest of Xudur. Her five children are staying with relatives and
she sends most of the monthly financial assistance she receives in the camp to them. Xudur lies
approximately 335 km northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

“We fled Al-Shabaab. They chased us, forcing us to seek shelter and support in this camp. We
are desperate, starving, and need something to eat,” she added.

A delegation led by the South West State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster
Management, Abdinasir Arush, and including the Director General of Somalia’s Ministry
Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Ahmed Abukar Ahmed, the Xudur District
Commissioner, Mohamed Maalim Ahmed, and UN officials recently visited Xudur on a
humanitarian assessment mission.

The delegation visited Daleeley, Shiidley and Madahwaraabe sites for internally displaced
people (IDPs), a maternal and child health care facility and feeding centre, a water pump
station, checked on the progress of ongoing projects and interacted with displaced families.
Fatuma’s situation is compounded by an aid blockade. Al-Shabaab has besieged Xudur and
neighbouring towns in Bakool region for the last seven years, cutting off road access for
humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations. According to media reports, on 4 June, the
situation escalated when Al-Shabaab killed six traders and torched 11 trucks laden with food aid
bound for Xudur. As many as 4,000 people are reported to have arrived in the area since then.

The blockade has caused food prices to surge in Xudur town, further exacerbating the situation
of the displaced families who depend on humanitarian assistance. Flying in this life-saving
support is currently the only safe way to provide relief, and recently humanitarian partners
managed to airlift food and other supplies into the besieged area. As a result, people who
urgently needed humanitarian aid were assisted and the price of a bag of rice dropped from
US$50-69 to $26.
Displaced people in Xudur receive $70 per family, medical assistance, non-food items and food
rations. The money and food are insufficient as more people continue to arrive, thus putting a
strain on available assistance.

REQUEST FOR SUPPORT

“My request to the donors is that I am a displaced person who lives here. We depend entirely
on humanitarian agencies and God for our survival. We are really suffering. We request food,
decent shelter and a school. We need a lot of support,” said 75-year-old Mohamedkheyr Nur, a
father of 10 living in Daleeley site for displaced people.

According to Minister Arush, humanitarian response has improved the living conditions of
displaced families, though there is a need to scale up interventions. “These displaced people
have many challenges. They were forced to flee their homes where they lived for many years
and had their livelihood. They now have no proper shelter; there is also little food in the town
due to the blockade. Water is also scarce. These basic needs are their biggest challenge,” he
noted.

Somalia has one of the highest numbers of displaced people in the world. Some 2.9 million
people - nearly 25 per cent of the population - is displaced.

Climate-related shocks have exacerbated the humanitarian situation in the country. For
instance, there are 350 internally displaced people’s sites in South West State, making it one of
the worst-hit by displacement Federal Member States. Shiidley residents, too, echoed this
sentiment – even if the security situation improves, the drought has taken their crops and
livestock so returning home would bring a different set of challenges. Displaced people face
risks of eviction, marginalisation and exclusion, and lack of access to essential services like
shelter, water and sanitation.
The humanitarian community has prioritised assistance for 4 million of the most vulnerable
people in Somalia in 2021. The 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan seeks $1.09 billion to provide
life-saving assistance and livelihood support to those most affected. However, only $432 million
(40 per cent) of the required funding is available, the lowest in six years.

Xudur District Commissioner Mohamed Maalim Ahmed said his administration has resettled
IDPs and provided safety; but urged for more humanitarian support from international funding
partners. “The problem of displacement has been recurring. But what these IDPs here need
most is security. They need their safety to be guaranteed, having been forced to leave their
homes by conflict. Secondly, they need humanitarian assistance. We appeal to the donors to
support them,” he added.

The Strategic Communication and Coordination Officer in the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, Olga Cherevko, said the situation could worsen if additional resources are
not mobilised soon. “The already existing gaps could increase because more people fleeing
conflict and drought are arriving on a daily basis,” Cherevko noted.