In Somaliland, women are being raped as a result of extreme drought and lack of support.
Most women and girls in the camp have been assaulted or raped by gangs,” begins Hodan Ahmedan, 23, sitting in her makeshift shelter where she has lived since she arrived from drought-ridden eastern Somaliland to a camp for internally displaced in Maxamed Mooge, Hargeisa.
While men have found it possible to find jobs in the city, the multitude of dangers the drought has exposed women to – from sexual assaults, to illegal land grabbing, to lack of sanitary facilities – clearly demonstrates that it is the women who are bearing the brunt of the drought and its consequences.
The drought killed my animals.
“If we don’t pay, they set our shelters on fire,” explains Amina, “so many have here have been burnt”.
This camp, like most of the country, receives no humanitarian support from the international community or the government.
“Even our donkeys have died, this is the last one,” he claims.
“We have no water left.
They are lucky, she claims, none have suffered complications yet, but Dacar adds that with no water or food he expects a crisis in the coming days.
“We urgently need water and food, or we will die.” As most Somalilanders have had their very way of life ripped away from them by the drought – and the lack of national and international support – it is the women and most vulnerable who are bearing the brunt.