DEVELOPMENT: Muslim Leaders Renew SOS for Kenya’s Flood Victims

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Dec 17 1997 (IPS) - Frustrated Muslim leaders here have renewed an appeal made earlier this month to the international community to provide assistance for hundreds of thousands of people affected by floods in parts of northeast Kenya.

“Since the floods have swept the region, no relief food has reached the affected people,” said Abdulahi Abdi, spokesperson for the concerned leaders, who represent major Muslim groups here.

Abdi, who is the executive director of Northern Aid, a non- governmental organisation (NGO) that operates in the affeced region, told journalists here late Tuesday that they had approached the office of the president, but had been told to wait.

“We can’t wait any longer. People are dying,” he said. “The people of northern Kenya and Tana River district (in the northeast) have experienced great hardships much of which now tells of neglect.

“Impassable roads, access to medical aid, lack of food and basic shelter, lack of basic commodities, ruined farms and even deaths by drowning and water borne diseases are just but some of the problems.”

“The situation has deteriorated to a point where the elderly, women and children suffer most and this is the reality on the ground,” added Abdi.

Local newspapers here reported this week that ten people had died since the deluge hit the region, inhabited mainly by Muslims, just over two months ago. “But our reports show that more than 50 people have died,” said Abdi. “And more will die unless food is rushed in immediately to alleviate the sufferings of the people in the region.”

Northeast Kenya has a population of 700,000, and about 400,000 of them have been directly affected by the floods, according to Abdi. “These people are in serious situation,” he said. “They require special mention because crumbled road network in the region has isolated them”.

“They can only be reached by air,” said Abdi.

His colleague, Al-Amin Kimathi of the Nairobi-based Muslim Consultative Council told IPS on Tuesday that the international community was only transporting relief aid to the flood victims in Somalia, while ignoring Kenya.

“Relief food is going to Somalia, although there is no functioning government in place there,” he said.

Many more people have died in Somalia than in Kenya since the floods began over two months ago, according to aid agencies operating in the country, which has been torn by clan warfare since 1991.

An inter-agency committee reported the confirmed death toll at 1,801 and said more than 230,000 people had been displaced, with a million at risk. The floods have drowned more than 33,000 head of livestock in Somalia and wiped out crops on more than 60,000 hectares of farmland, it said.

This week’s appeal in Kenya followed a similar one by the Muslim groups via another leader, Ahmed Khalif, a week ago.

Khalif, who is Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, had appealed to Kenya’s government, the international community and NGOs “for quick action to save lives of people on the brink of death.”

He said, in a statement distributed to news agencies here last week, that the floods had made roads impassible, cut animals off from their owners, and led to food shortages in the northeast.

Abdi agreed. He said there was money to buy food, “but shelves are empty. There is no food in them.”

He said the Muslim community had contributed some 50 metric tonnes of food, adding: “We are appealing to the international community to provide planes for us to transport the food to the needy. The time to act is now. Either you bring food or collect the bodies of the starving for burial.”

So far a few developed countries have stepped in with donations. The United States this week contributed one million dollars worth of relief aid for the region, while Japan gave 250,000 U.S. dollars.

In a statement made available to IPS on Wednesday, the Japanese embassy here said the assistance was in response to an appeal by the government of Kenya for the flood victims.

The appeal by the Muslim leaders concided with statements by the Red Cross and Red Crescent on Tuesday that they had distributed 180 tonnes of maize and other relief supplies to the Tana River district, where 1,500 families have been displaced.

The independent ‘Daily Nation’ newspaper also reported on Wednesday that Kenya Air Force and Army helicopters had airlifted food to the affected region, but it did not elaborate.

The floods have been caused by torrential rains — the heaviest in 40 years in some areas — which in turn have been blamed on El Nino, a warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean that occurs every few years and disrupts weather patterns in various parts of the world.

The rains are expected to continue into next year, the meteorological department of Kenya has said.