Lack of fuel, water hinders Somalia recovery

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 21, 1994 by Robin Lubbock

KISMAYU, Somalia - Abdulkadir Ali, a sturdy man dressed in a Boston T-shirt picks his way through a patch of wilting peppers to an old GM irrigation pump perched on the red sandy bank of the Juba River. The pump is thirsty and so are his plants. But he says his village, Luglow, has no money to buy fuel and their crops are dying.

Luglow is just one of hundreds of villages that crowd the shore of Somalia's Juba River as it stretches inland from the southern port of Kismayu. The Juba Valley was once known as the breadbasket of Somalia, but during two years of civil war many of the valley's inhabitants fled and rampaging militia armies looted and destroyed most of the valley's resources, from family cooking pots to the enormous sugar factory that employed more than 3,500 people.

Since U.S. and United Nations troops came to Kismayu and the Juba Valley a year ago, levels of banditry have dropped and clan fighting is sporadic. But for refugees returning there is no guarantee of security from future violence or hunger.

In late December, Indian troops took over from the Belgian forces who had patrolled the area for the past year. Most Somalis and U.N. officials expect a period of "testing" now as local militia try out the capabilities of the Indian force.

At Bilis Qooqaani, about 100 miles from Kismayu, Indian troops came under mortar fire soon after they arrived in December. They reported no casualties. But at least two Somalis have died in confrontations with the Indians. Banditry also continues. Witnesses say three men died and a fourth was seriously injured in a recent attempt to steal a vehicle only a few miles outside Kismayu.

Col. Dipak K. Mohan, who commands the Indian Battalion group in Kismayu, denies allegations his troops have significantly less resources than the departing Belgians. Mohan adds that his troops have an advantage over their predecessors.

"We come from a background that is not entirely dissimilar from this place, and we find it easier to understand the problems of society," he says. "We also know something about clan, and clan structure. We can understand."

But with relative calm in Mogadishu, political advisers from the United Nations Operation in Somalia, UNOSOM, say militia allied to the powerful faction leader and U.N. bugbear, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, may now be moving south towards Kismayu, heralding further insecurity in the port town. If security in the area remains in question, the bare facts of economic hardship are not.

Although most food distribution in Kismayu stopped in June, food aid has blighted local markets. Special feeding centers and food-for-work schemes flooded Kismayu with corn in November. The price of corn on the local market dropped from $20 to $10 a sack in four months. According to figures from a recent nutrition survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres, local farmers tried to keep the price of their corn high, at around $18 a sack, making it difficult for farmers to earn a living.

Replacing looted livestock is also problematic. In Beledu Rahwna village, about 25 miles outside Kismayu, Moalin Abdullahi, a 49-year-old village leader, points to a dusty open patch of ground between a group of mud and wattle houses. "This is where we used to keep our cattle," he says.

He then describes how marauding militia looted everything from the village, including livestock, equipment, and even clothes, during the two-year civil war.

Outside the village things look little better. Open flat land stretches away to the trees in the distance. Here and there a feeble corn stalk struggles to survive in the heat. Abdullahi says the village will have little to eat unless villagers can irrigate their once fertile fields. "There is no way you can produce here without water pumps," he says. But, he added, the village has no pumps and no money to buy them.

Luglow, a few miles down the Juba River, had the same misfortune with its livestock, but the villagers had the fore-thought to bury their water pumps before fleeing the area. They were able to recover more than a dozen when they returned to the village. Surrounded by his wilting plants, Abdulkadir Ali says they have eight pumps that would work if they had fuel.

To get around the problem, Luglow villagers have started cutting down knotted thorn trees to make charcoal. They sell the charcoal in Kismayu and buy fuel for their pumps. But in this delicate sandy environment some environmentalists say the solution to today's problem is the creation of tomorrow's. In similar conditions near Mogadishu, environmental groups have already noted encroaching desertification.

Around Luglow and other villages the devastation is visible. Patches of land lie stripped of trees.

Aid is available in the area. Visiting Luglow, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees field assistant Abdi Moge Mohamed, says the village stands a good chance of getting $15,000 for a UNHCR Quick Impact Project, But the villagers will first have to fill in forms and present them at the UNHCR's offices in Kismayu.