Desperate Kenyan nomads cull starving cattle

GARSESALA – As the grim toll from hunger and thirst mounts in Kenya’s drought-stricken north-east, frantic cattle-dependent nomads are slaughtering their starving herds in a bid to stave off famine.

In this bone-dry region, where the arid silence is pierced by the sobs of malnourished children and dusty roads are littered with rotting animal carcasses, desperate pastoralists are turning to an emergency programme in which they sell their cows and goats to be killed for meat for the community. Amina Aden has come to this village with several of her nine children to have the last surviving cow in what was once a herd of 50 go under the knife beneath the blazing equatorial sun.”This helps,” the 40-year-old said, watching workers toil amid the bloody stench of a makeshift Garsesala abattoir, skinning and cleaning the bodies of about 20 cows brought in on a recent morning.The government-funded scheme has picked up pace since it was begun last month amid dire warnings that some 2,5 million Kenyans will need food aid by February to survive the effects of drought plaguing huge swathes of the Horn of Africa, where more than six million people are at risk.Mandera district in Kenya’s remote northeast on the Somali border is perhaps the worst-hit area of the country and already, 450 goats and 75 head of cattle have been slaughtered in and around the town of Garsesala, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.The agency says it has enough money now to buy 1 000 cows and 4 000 goats in the area where livestock, often a family’s most precious possession, have become a heavy burden in the face of a severe shortage of fodder and water and will most likely die anyway.”It’s the first time this system has been used,” said Farid Abdulkadir, chief of disaster operations for the Kenyan Red Cross Society (KCRS) which buys cows for the equivalent of US$41 each and goats for the equivalent of US$11.”We take them before they get too sick,” he said, adding that the meat from a cow can feed a six families for two days.A goat can sustain four families over the same period.District Officer Abukar Abdi praised the plan but lamented it might be too little, too late for population of the region where at least 40 people, mainly children, have died from hunger and related illness in the past month.”This is good, but the intervention is slow,” he said.”It’s not adequate, people have meat for two days, but no medicine or anything else.”This drought is a disaster,” Abdi says.”I’ve been here for 37 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”In a nearby village, named Borehole 11 for its well, dozens of veiled women leading a team of jerrycan-loaded skinny mules in search of water, attest to the damage caused to livestock by failed rains over the past two years.”I had 51 cows.Forty-five died, only six remain,” said Fatuma Oshow, a 45-year-old mother of five.Further south in Wajir district, about 580 kilometres from Nairobi, Omar Alli says his herd has been decimated and, with it, his ability to provide for his 15 children.”I had 200 cattle, but I’m left with six, they died from hunger,” he says, rubbing his salt-and-pepper beard.”I sold 20 camels to get food and I now I have only 60 camels, two donkeys and 40 goats, but none of the goats can walk.I used to rely on the animals, now I have nothing.”- Nampa-AFPAmina Aden has come to this village with several of her nine children to have the last surviving cow in what was once a herd of 50 go under the knife beneath the blazing equatorial sun.”This helps,” the 40-year-old said, watching workers toil amid the bloody stench of a makeshift Garsesala abattoir, skinning and cleaning the bodies of about 20 cows brought in on a recent morning.The government-funded scheme has picked up pace since it was begun last month amid dire warnings that some 2,5 million Kenyans will need food aid by February to survive the effects of drought plaguing huge swathes of the Horn of Africa, where more than six million people are at risk.Mandera district in Kenya’s remote northeast on the Somali border is perhaps the worst-hit area of the country and already, 450 goats and 75 head of cattle have been slaughtered in and around the town of Garsesala, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.The agency says it has enough money now to buy 1 000 cows and 4 000 goats in the area where livestock, often a family’s most precious possession, have become a heavy burden in the face of a severe shortage of fodder and water and will most likely die anyway.”It’s the first time this system has been used,” said Farid Abdulkadir, chief of disaster operations for the Kenyan Red Cross Society (KCRS) which buys cows for the equivalent of US$41 each and goats for the equivalent of US$11.”We take them before they get too sick,” he said, adding that the meat from a cow can feed a six families for two days.A goat can sustain four families over the same period.District Officer Abukar Abdi praised the plan but lamented it might be too little, too late for population of the region where at least 40 people, mainly children, have died from hunger and related illness in the past month.”This is good, but the intervention is slow,” he said.”It’s not adequate, people have meat for two days, but no medicine or anything else.”This drought is a disaster,” Abdi says.”I’ve been here for 37 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”In a nearby village, named Borehole 11 for its well, dozens of veiled women leading a team of jerrycan-loaded skinny mules in search of water, attest to the damage caused to livestock by failed rains over the past two years.”I had 51 cows.Forty-five died, only six remain,” said Fatuma Oshow, a 45-year-old mother of five.Further south in Wajir district, about 580 kilometres from Nairobi, Omar Alli says his herd has been decimated and, with it, his ability to provide for his 15 children.”I had 200 cattle, but I’m left with six, they died from hunger,” he says, rubbing his salt-and-pepper beard.”I sold 20 camels to get food and I now I have only 60 camels, two donkeys and 40 goats, but none of the goats can walk.I used to rely on the animals, now I have nothing.”- Nampa-AFP