By: Emmanuel Haddad, Adrienne Surprenant
Somalilandsun-People of nomadic pastoralists, the Somalilandans are among the first victims of the global warming that decimates their cattle and forces them to reach the cities. The solutions exist, but when the help arrives it is often already too late.
It took a blind faith in Abraham to bow to the will of God and accept to sacrifice his son. His conviction rewarded him. The archangel Gabriel interrupted him at the last moment to replace the throat of his offspring with that of a ram on Mount Moriah.
On Sunday, 10 September 2016, on this day of Eid al-Adha, where Muslims celebrated Abraham’s gesture by sacrificing a sheep, Igal Abdullah had to be abjured to swallow the distance between his hamlet of Foronimi and The city of Hargeisa. A long journey to sell the seven sheep that drought spared him.
Arrived at dawn at the cattle market in the capital of Somaliland, this pastor with a fine, gnarled body still does not know if his effort will be rewarded. But more than belief, it was hunger that pushed him on the roads. For several years heaven has punished the nomadic shepherds of Somaliland, yet they have not yet understood what God expects of them to put an end to their sufferings.
Every year, Gu, the seasonal rain from May to June, is more discreet and the Karen, the showers from August to mid-September, is also less generous. Last year, the drought was unforgiving. The scourge that has plagued the herd of Igal has been more deadly than ever: “Out of my 110 head of cattle, only these sheep have survived,” he said fatalistically. To his great feet martyred by the road, seven sheep of Somalia with black head, remains of its past wealth.
For two years, there has been no rain in the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland. According to the Ministry of Agriculture , 50% of crops were lost in the first year of the drought, 98% the second.
The evil that falls on the Horn of Africa is a two-headed hydra, harder to fight than the epizootics which frequently decimate the cattle. On the one hand, global warming has made the year 2014 the hottest ever recorded. A record since beaten by 2015.
On the other hand, El Niño, a cyclical climatic phenomenon resulting from the warming of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean, has caused climate change in tropical regions. The two monsters feed each other: the warming of the sea increases the risk of El Niño spreading its effects with more virulence, which warms the climate in return. Climatologists have been anticipating disaster for a long time.
In 2014, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) alerted: “Climate change will amplify existing risks and create new ones for human and natural systems. The risks are distributed unevenly and are generally greater for disadvantaged people and communities. “And to clarify:” Climate change will increase forced displacement. “
A prophecy that has materialized for the nomads of Somaliland, now forced to sedentarization forced into the cities once their livestock decimated. Not less than 80% of cattle, 60% of sheep and goats and 20% of camels perished in the affected areas, according to the Somaliland government.
Bing Translation from the original French Article published by https://www.sept.info
