(ERGO) – More than 12,000 families displaced by conflict between Somali and Oromo communities in southern Ethiopia are facing food shortage and lack of proper shelter in Guradhamole in Liben zone.
Abdirahman Osman Hussein, one of the displaced who spoke with Radio Ergo, said they reached Guradhamole empty-handed two months ago. Food shortage is their main worry, as they get one meal a day from the local administration.
“In my family we cook around 10 in the morning, and then we wait till the next day around the same time. My children cry of hunger at night as they eat just once a day. The government has given us 50 kgs of cooking oil, but the food is getting depleted, and we barely have food for the next 10 days. We are very worried,” he said.
Abdirahman said he and his two wives and seven children left behind their house and all their belongings, including his shop with goods worth $15,000. He also owned a one-hectare farm where he planted maize in September. He said they were attacked at 11 pm in their house in Alla-Soomay village and fled rapidly, walking for nine hours to Guradhamole.
“I had bought supplies for my shop a week before the attack. My property has been looted and the shop burned. I was told livestock were let onto the farm and everything was destroyed. We have been dependent on this livelihood for 17 years,” he said.
The families mostly fled from Alla-Soomay and Dibda-amii villages, which are inhabited by both Somalis and Oromos. They are not sure when they will go back to their homes and have constructed makeshift shelters from tree branches and pieces of clothing outside the urban area.
Ardo Muhumed Liban, a mother of nine, said the food they were given by the local authority ended three weeks ago. She also received 50kgs of rice and sugar. Now, some other IDP families are sharing some of their food with her.
“We don’t have any food, and we don’t have houses. The rainfall hits us in the open. There is cold, then heat, and it’s hard to bear that. We have arrived in an open place here. We didn’t bring clothes or even bedding,” she said.
Ardo had been expecting to harvest her farm in December. She also ran a shop selling clothes and food. She does not know if everything was looted.
“I had a 15-hectare farm where I was growing tomatoes, onions, potatoes, mangoes, and bananas. We had a five-room house. I had a shop and the goods inside could be estimated at $10,000. I have nothing in my hands now!” she said.
Her family walked for 12 hours from Dibda-ami village after being attacked, carrying nothing with them.
The head of the disaster management centre in Guradhamole, Ahmed Mohamed Hussein, said the families received one distribution of food aid intended to last for a month. He noted the government does not have the capacity to keep feeding the families but is doing whatever it can to assist.
“We have handed out 3,500 sacks of rice, 3,500 sacks of sugar, and 584 cartons of cooking oil, and we have shared the food based on the needs of each family. We have also shared their situation with aid organisations who have visited them and assessed their situation,” he said, adding that they have also prepared 3,500 tents and blankets for the displaced families.
