TheSomaliaTimes

Mogadishu, Somalia
Wednesday March 25, 2015
3 pages
five cents
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People in Somalia searching for water.

Somalias Water Crisis

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There is a water crisis going on in

Somalia because most of the population does
not have access to clean drinking water.Most
of the water is contaminated and it haslotsof
water diseases like cholera. Countries in
Africa like Somalia have one of the lowest
water coverage percentage in the world. Only
30percentofthepeopleinis
_

1
Somalia have access to safe water.
The most
common and lethal disease that is found in
Somalias water is cholera, which kills
hundreds of people annually. Poor sanitation
is also one of the reasons why water diseases
are present in their water because only 39
percent of the population has access to
2
sanitation.
The United Nations estimates that
about 115 people die each hour from diseases
3
linked to their water.
The water crisis in
Somalia is so bad that over 400,000 people
4
are in danger.
This forces the people to walk
over
20
kilometers
(roughly
12.427438693658 miles) just to getwaterthat
might be contaminated or havewaterdiseases
5
that could potentially kill them.
Another
reason why it is hard to find waterin Somalia
is because the country is characterized as
water scarce, they only get about 250mm of
rainayear andanaveragecountrygetsaround
6
500mmto1,000mm(theU.S.gets750mm).
Onerecentcasewherewatersanitation
killed many people at a time when was 50
people diedfromdrinking contaminatedwater

fromawell.
Morethan150peoplewerealso

7
hospitalized because of that incident.
The
wells owner was not revealed but scientists
are taking samples from the water to find out
whathadcausedthetragedies.
The people in Somalia also sacrifice
and pray for their water because it has moral
values, so for them it is as valuable as gold
and it plays a big role in their religion. Islam
is Somalias main religion and water is
consideredablessingfromAllah, that sustains
life. In the Holy Quran (the book of Islam)
there are approximately 500 verses out of the
6666 discussing water in one way or another
8
and its role in the present world.
Somalia is
not the onlycountrythatneedsaccesstoclean
drinking water. Many other countries need it
as well since over 1 billion people in the
world do not have this privilege that we take
9
forgranted.

Global water crisis by country

Somalias Civil War

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There has been a civilwargoingonin

Somalia for almost 30 years (1991now)
because the people of Somalia were left
alone with no government for two decades
since the government does not care about
their people. Most of the people have been
governed from local authorities buttheyare
not considered states. It is not fair for the
people to be living with such corruption
because they already have enough bad
things happening to them like water
shortageandcontamination.

Some parts of Somalia have been

somewhat peaceful, including the
selfdeclared Republic of Somaliland,but
sometimes sudden attacks take place with
no warning and it hurts its citizens. Since
1991, approximately 350,000 to 1,000,000
1
Somalis have died because of the disputes.
The Somalian government pretends to care
about its people, but if they really did care
about them they would have found a
solutionduringthose20years.

RebelsinSomaliaatwar

The Civil war started in 1991 and was

causedbysomedisastrouseventstookplace
in between December 1991 and March
1992. Somalia was torn apart by warfare
and the result was 1.5 million leaving the
country and no government for 2 decades.
The situation got even when the UN
organized a mission to bring peacebetween
the twomainbelligerentsinMogadishu,Ali
Mahdi Mohamed and General Mohamed
Farah Aideed. The UN in Somalia was
unable to terminate the violence or address
2
theproblem.

In the year 2000, there was an effort

for the government to make a comeback
when the Dijbouti government hosted the
Somalia National Peace Conference in the
town of Arta. The conference stated that
Somalia should receive help from other
countries. The TNG became the first
representative of Somalia at the UN since
the fall of Siyad Barre (Somalias main
military leader. The country was supported
by many countries but it did not go so well
so it failed to gain the trust of neighboring
countries like Ethiophia, so they were not
able to get help. This is unacceptable
because neighboring countries should be
helping each other instead of becoming
enemies. The TNG did not follow through
thepromisestheymade in Artaand became
associated with the powerful Mogadishu
clans, this is also unacceptable because itis
like backstabbing your country since you
aresupposedtoberepresenting

theminsteadofmakingfriendswithpeople
whoareagainstyourcountry.TheTNGmade
enemieswithacoalitioninEthiopia,called
theSomaliRestorationandReconciliation
Council(SRRC)inwhichAbdullahiYusuf
hadaleadershiprole.Somaliashouldchange
immediatelybecausetheirfuturewillnotbe
sobrightiftheystaylikethis,Ipredictthat
eventuallyeveryonewouldeventuallyleave
thecountryanditwilljustbeanabandoned
countrysinceover2millionpeoplehave
3
alreadyleft.
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This picture shows the armed faction of the

Somali territory since 1992.
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CoverStoryBibliography:

OpEdBibliography:

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