Operation Highlights

Somalia is the country generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq. UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting 700,000 IDPs out of a total IDP population estimated at 1.1 million and over 2,300 refugees in Somalia.

10 million people in Yemen need food aid, of whom about 5 million face acute food shortages; 6 million people do not have access to health care; and 1 million children are facing malnutrition, with some 150,000 of them facing the risk of death due to acute malnutrition.

Somalia’s main rainy season (Gu) began in mid March. While bringing relief to dry conditions, the intense rains have led to flooding, crop damage and displacements. Flash floods were reported in Baidoa and Jowhar and strong rains in the Ethiopian highlands led to increased water levels along the Juba and Shabelle rivers. River embankment openings and breakages have led to localized flooding. The most affected areas include parts of Middle and Lower Shabelle and Bay region.

The Global Overview collates information from a range of sources and displays it in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• More than 87 percent of IDPs in southern Yemen have returned to areas of origin since July 2012 as a result of improved security conditions, according to the U.N. However, less than 11 percent of IDPs in northern Yemen have returned home due to protracted insecurity. A lack of basic services is an issue in both northern and southern areas.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The plight of migrants from the Horn of Africa has worsened, with 25,000 people stranded in Haradh.

• More than 200 schools have been rehabilitated by USAID and the Ministry of Education since 2011.

• Civil disobedience in Abyan has disrupted schooling with 12 schools reportedly attacked in March.

• Suspected cases of measles reported in Hajjah Governorate.

• 25,000 tons of food to be distributed to 900,000 people in Bani Mtar District of Sana'a Governorate.

Armed conflicts, insecurity, protracted displacement and natural disasters affect millions of people across the region.

The long-awaited National Dialogue Conference was successfully launched in Sana’a on 18 March. Meanwhile, political tensions, economic insecurity, social unrest and conflict continued to seriously affect all sectors of the population, leaving the poverty-stricken extremely vulnerable. . In order to be able to assist those in need, it is essential that the neutral, impartial and independent nature of aid agencies' humanitarian work, including that of the ICRC, be respected at all times.

The Global Overview collates information from a range of sources and displays it in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises.