Following several calls which the government of Somaliland made of an impending, critical shortage of water supplies in large parts of the country, both national and international agencies have started responding to the situation.
According to the Chairman of the Refugees, Re-settlement and IDPs Agency, Abdikarim Mohamed Ahmed 
‘Hinnif’, international agencies have started responding to a potentially life-threatening situation by trucking water to several camps hosting internally displaced people (IDPs).
“We have started providing water, thus far, to about 10,150 families living in IDP camps in the regions of Saraar, Sool, Sanaag, Togdheer, and Sahil,” he said.
He stated some camps have already been reached and others will be in due time.
The Chairman expressed gratitude to the five international and national agencies of ARC (American Refugee Council), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Care International, CCPRS – a local NGO.
“These five agencies have distributed 308 water trucks to camps direly short of water responding to a meeting we got together here at the Agency on 2 February 2019, and we are very grateful for their quick response in the hope that we, together, continue this humanitarian initiative,” he said.
The chairman underlined that the communities the IDPs were living with are being faced by the same dire circumstances.
“IDPs do not live in isolation and we are taking that into consideration, too,” he said.
The government of Somaliland has, through its Disaster-preparedness agency, declared that over a million inhabitants, most of whom in pastoral areas, are threatened by food and water shortage.
Chairman Faisal Ali Sheikh called on all international agencies to take a looming drought into context and to plan for relief and emergencies efforts.
