With her three children, this 26-year-old mother traveled for five days, on foot and "without eating", the 70 kilometers which separate her village from this large city located 250 kilometers from the capital Mogadishu.

She settled in Muuri, one of the 500 camps for displaced people in the city, where the aqal - traditional dome-shaped huts - hastily cobbled together have multiplied in recent weeks.

Families who recently fled the drought in southern Somalia and took refuge in Muuri camp in Badoa on February 13, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

Ruined, hungry, thirsty, more and more of them are converging on Baidoa from the countryside of southern Somalia, one of the regions hardest hit by the drought that is overwhelming the Horn of Africa.

More than 550,000 Somalis have left their homes in search of water and food or pasture for their livestock, a figure that doubled in January, according to the UN.

Children in the middle of makeshift tents in a camp for displaced people in Baidoa (Somalia), February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

"We have nothing left"

Salado and her husband have seen their crops devoured by the locusts that have ravaged East Africa in recent years.

What little they had left was wiped out by a third below-average rainy season.

"Three camels died, ten goats - we ate some of them, others died and we sold some - and five cows died because of the lack of water and pasture", enumerates the young woman: " We have nothing left."

A woman carries a jerrycan of water in a camp for displaced people in Baidoa (Somalia), February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

With her husband and children, they took the road to Baidoa, the last hope of survival in the region.

As the countryside is under the control of Al-Shabaab Islamists, almost no aid can be transported outside the city.

Her husband, suffering from tuberculosis, did not reach Baidoa.

Too weak, he turned back.

She hasn't heard from her since.

Even in Muuri, Salado struggles to provide one meal a day for his children.

"Sometimes we have to eat, sometimes not. (...) If there is not enough, I sacrifice myself", she explains, looking tired.

Salado Adan Mohamed, a 26-year-old mother, arranges her makeshift shelter in the Muuri IDP camp in Baidoa (Somalia), February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

2011 spectrum

For several weeks, humanitarian organizations have been increasing alerts on the deterioration of the situation in the Horn of Africa, which raises fears of a tragedy similar to that of 2011, the last famine which killed 260,000 people in Somalia.

The lack of rain since the end of 2020 has dealt a fatal blow to populations already affected by an invasion of locusts between 2019 and 2021 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We had our usual reserves of sorghum, but we have eaten them for the past three years. They have run out," explains Ibrahim Mohamed Hassan, a blind 60-year-old who walked sixty kilometers with his family to Garas Goof camp.

A 30-year-old woman holds her one-year-old child in the Muuri IDP camp in Baidoa, Somalia, February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

In his village, 30 of the 50 families have left.

“The others will follow”, predicts the old man, readjusting his patched up sunglasses with a rubber band.

Malnutrition and diseases

For a decade, Baidoa has been accustomed to welcoming large influxes of people.

The number of camps for displaced people has exploded, from 77 in 2016 to 572 today.

Last October, the city had 475,000 displaced people, or 60% of its population estimated at between 700,000 and 800,000 inhabitants.

Families of displaced people wait for water in a camp for displaced people in Baidoa (Somalia), February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

But at the medical center of the Tawkal 2 Dinsoor camp, the extent of the exodus in recent months is worrying.

"Before, we received around a thousand people, or even less, per month. Today, we welcome 2,000 to 3,000", explains Hassan Ali Amin, the head of the center, who observes an upsurge in cases of malnutrition and diarrhea in children, as well as illnesses (measles, pneumonia, etc.) that overwhelm already weakened bodies.

A three-month-old baby recently arrived with his family in a camp for displaced people in Baidoa (Somalia), February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

At this rate, "we fear shortages of water and medicine," he adds.

"If the situation continues to worsen, we expect to welcome thousands, hundreds of thousands of people", confirms Mohamednur Mohamed Abdirahman, field director of the NGO Save The Children, which operates in several camps and medical facilities. in Baidoa.

Women gathered for a water distribution in the Muuri IDP camp in Baidoa (Somalia) on February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

"Sad and Skinny"

Abdulle Kalar Maaney does not want to believe in the dreaded scenario: a fourth season of insufficient rains.

He has "great hope" that the rains will return in March and that he will be able to return to his village.

A woman drinks after a water distribution in the Muuri IDP camp in Baidoa (Somalia) on February 13, 2022 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

He arrived in Muuri with his wife and ten children having lost his last possessions: his donkey and his cart.

He was counting on it to earn some money once in Baidoa, but the donkey died during the 90 kilometer journey and he abandoned the cart.

Families who recently fled the drought in southern Somalia and took refuge in Muuri camp in Badoa on February 13, 2022. YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

"I was big and strong when I had my cattle", he explains: "I have become sad and thin since the drought killed everything".

© 2022 AFP