A growing number of towns and cities in the centre and south of the country have seen armed clashes. Fighting in the capital Mogadishu remains particularly intense.

Large numbers of civilians have been killed or wounded in crossfire and hundreds of thousands of people have had to flee their homes. Chronic drought is making their problems worse. Meanwhile, the cost of living has soared, leaving many unable to buy food and other essentials. ICRC assessment teams report that in several regions many displaced families are surviving on less than one meal a day and are having to spend more and more of their meagre income on drinking water. Many resident communities are struggling to give refuge to the increasing numbers of families fleeing the fighting. (Humanitarian crisis deepens amid growing insecurity).

Drought relief for hundreds of thousands

The failure of the major mid-year rains led the ICRC to launch a second major drought relief operation this year. During the 35-day water distribution programme due to end in mid-October, the organization aims to provide 70 million litres of water survival rations to 500 locations.

Earlier in the year, the ICRC had already mounted a large-scale drought-response operation following a below-average minor rainy season. This involved trucking 187 million litres of water to almost half a million pastoralists and their livestock at more than 400 locations over a period of 100 days.

The ICRC has also continued to renovate and repair strategic water supply infrastructure. So far this year its efforts to improve groundwater sources (wells and boreholes) and surface water storage facilities (private water reservoirs and rainwater catchments) have ensured that some 180,000 people continued to have access to water. Similar projects under way are expected to benefit a further 140,000 people by the end of the year.

Support for Mogadishu hospitals

The ICRC is supporting two surgical referral hospitals in Mogadishu: Medina and Keysaney, which between them have treated more than 2,000 casualties since January. In 2007, the two facilities treated more than 4,000 people wounded in the conflict. (video: Surgeons fight for life)

The ICRC helps to cover the running costs of the two hospitals, and provides medical supplies, training and surgical staff. Its surgical teams have also been helping out at other hospitals in conflict-prone regions of the country, which have also received medical supplies.

An ICRC-backed team of surgeons from the Qatar Red Crescent Society has been working at Keysaney Hospital, which is managed by the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS).

Primary health care

The ICRC has recently extended its support to five additional temporary Somali Red Crescent Society primary health-care clinics on the outskirts of Mogadishu that care for more than 200,000 displaced people who have fled the capital during the past months. The 32 SRCS clinics in central and southern Somalia supported by the ICRC have carried out more than 142,500 consultations and 61,500 vaccinations since January.

Relief and emergency assistance

The ICRC has adapted its operations to focus on large-scale relief for displaced families, their host communities and pastoralists affected by drought. The organization is also helping people suffering because of the conflict and natural disasters through water and sanitation projects, as well as livelihood programmes to increase agricultural production and raise incomes for communities and vulnerable groups particularly affected by the worsening humanitarian situation.

Since January, the ICRC has distributed:

• Food rations for up to 4 months to more than 500,000 people. The monthly rations consist of 12 kg of cereals, 4 kg of beans and 2 litres of oil per person.
• Essential household items to 420,000 people including shelter materials, kitchen sets, blankets, mats, jerrycans and clothing.
• Vegetable seed kits to 10,000 families, enabling them to eat a more varied diet.
• Staple crop seeds to nearly 20,000 farming households relying on rain-fed agriculture.

Last year, over 800,000 people received essential household items in south and central Somalia, in the areas around Mogadishu and in the northern Sool region. Over 230,000 people forced to flee Mogadishu received a three-month food ration.

Tracing

Another important part of the ICRC's work is re-establishing and maintaining contacts between family members separated by conflict. Working with the Somali Red Crescent Society, the ICRC collected almost 4,000 Red Cross Messages and distributed more than 9,700, many from outside the country. The ICRC opened 130 tracing files in response to requests from people searching for members of their families and issued 100 ICRC travel documents. Family links

The ICRC in Somalia

The ICRC has been in Somalia since 1977. In 1982 it responded to the aftermath of the war between Ethiopia and Somalia. In the early 1990s it conducted a major emergency assistance operation when civil war and devastating climatic disasters led to famine.

Today, most of the ICRC’s operations take place in central and southern Somalia, where armed clashes continue and essential services are almost inexistent.

The organization responds to Somalia’s complex emergencies through a broad spectrum of activities, aimed mainly at the rural population. To function in this difficult environment, the ICRC operates through a network of experienced and qualified national staff. At the same time, the ICRC works in a close partnership with Somali Red Crescent Society, aimed at extending the Society's capacities in the areas of health, relief and tracing.