STORY: UN LED HUMANITARIAN ASSESMENT MISSION IN MAXAAS

TRT: 01:50
SOURCE: UN VIDEO
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
DATELINE: 28/4/2014 MAAXAS, SOMALIA

SHOTLIST:
1, Wide shot: Maxaas government officials with Humanitarian officials walking
through Maxaas
2, Med shot: Maxaas government officials with Humanitarian officials walking
through Maxaas
3, Close up: Maxaas government officials with Humanitarian officials walking
through Maxaas
4, Wide shot: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director talking to the
local community
5, Med shot: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director talking to the
local community
6, Close up: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director talking to the
local community
7, SOUND BITE: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director: For a
location like Maxaas, access to food is key, if you looked at the causes of famine in
2011 they were four, insecurity and conflict, access to people, food prices that
were increasing and luck of funding. Now here as I said is relatively secure, the
second thing is access to food is there. We just need to support the people of
Maxaas to get more food at less prices.
8, Wide shot: Maxaas government officials showing the community water well
Humanitarian officials
9, Close up: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director talking to
children at the well
10, Med shot: children
11, Wide shot: Maxaas town
12, SOUND BITE: Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA Somalias acting Director: We have
to go back reassess what we have in stock, see what the needs are, and try and
bring in assistance. Now what we did, in some of these newly accessible areas,
we brought in medical supplies, polio vaccinations. Supplies that are not too
heavy, that can be transported relatively easy. We did that and we will try and do
the same here."
13,Wide shot: Maaxas government officials with Humanitarian officials walking
through Maaxas
14, Med shot: Maaxas government officials with Humanitarian officials walking
through Maaxas




STORY:

Aid agencies, led by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), travelled to Maaxas in Hiraan Region on 28 May to assess the
humanitarian situation on the ground. Maaxas is the fifth of ten newly accessible areas
recovered from Al Shabaab control by the Somalia National Armed Forces and AMISOM
two months ago to be assessed to determine urgent humanitarian needs and plan a
response.
For a location like Maaxas, access to food is key, said Ms. Edem Wosornu, OCHA
Somalias acting Director who led the mission to Maaxas. If you looked at the causes of
famine in 2011, they were four, insecurity and conflict, access to people, food prices that
were increasing and luck of funding. Now here as I said is relatively secure, the second
thing is access to food is there. We just need to support the people of Maaxas to get more
food at less prices.
The visit to Maaxas was part of the aid communitys efforts to assess newly accessible
areas across the country, and deliver aid to communities in order to reverse the
deteriorating humanitarian situation.
The assessment team met with local authorities and elders to get an overview of the
needs of the communities in the area. The most urgent needs identified were food,
healthcare, water, sanitation, education and livestock immunisation.
Humanitarian needs here are immense, reported Ms. Wosornu. The main access to
food for the community was from the capital of Mogadishu, but insecurity has resulted
in the supply routes being blocked off. The only possible supply route is from Bossaso
through Gaalkacyo and Belet Weyne which has resulted in doubling of food prices for
basic staples such rice, sugar, oil and flour, stretching coping mechanisms of already
vulnerable families.
With no health facilities in Maxaas, the nearest hospital or primary care access is Belet
Weyne, some 125km away. There have been no vaccinations in Maxaas since 2007.
There is only one bore hole and one spring. These water sources are used by people and
animals and water purification tablets are desperately needed to curtail waterborne
diseases. Fifty per cent of the towns 2,000 households are pastoralists. Because of the
poor grazing, milk production is low and families have less food on their tables.

Maxaas is just one of the many towns in Somalia under these conditions. The parallels
with the pre-famine period in 2010 are worrying, when the combination of shrinking
access, a few failed rainy seasons and declining funds led to a devastating crisis. Aid
agencies have called for urgent funding to prevent a repeat of the 2011 famine when
258,000 people lost their lives.
The funding crisis affecting existing humanitarian operations is further exacerbating the
situation. Less than 20% of the US$933 million needed to respond the Somalias vast
humanitarian needs was received, and programmes for water, sanitation and even basic
health care are on the verge of closure. Aid agencies have just released an urgent appeal
for $60 million dollars to keep the most vital lifesaving programmes, such as treating
malnourished children and delivering aid, up and running just through the month of
August, especially in newly accessible areas such as Maxaas.
End.