Hirshabelle Calls For Emergency Response As Shabelle River Dries Up

Somalia’s breadbasket is at risk as the longest perennial river in Somalia Shabelle dries up.

Hirshabelle State President Mohamed Abdi Ware has raised an emergency call to assist the thousands of people affected by the drying of the river.

“This is a disaster for our country, especially in food production and livelihoods. I am calling on our government that it should make an emergency response to the people who live in the Shabelle valley” Ware told reporters in the administrative capital Jowhar.

“We are in a difficult time. A time in which the drought is hitting us hard” Ware said.

Ware said that the most affected  regions is the Lower Shabelle which is Somalia’s main agricultural region.

“It’s possible that people who live in the Lower Shabelle may doubt that those in the Middle Shabelle have blocked the river from their side. And those in the Middle Shabelle may say that those in Hiraan have blocked the river from them. That issue needs a special attention from the government.”

The 1300km long river runs through Hiraan , Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions  before Flows