From: Horn-relief Bosasso Somalia Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 Subject: Recent changes in pastoral conditions in Eastern Sanaag Dear Colleagues It is the right time to inform you about the little changes that are taking place in Eastern Sanaag pastoral community First there were sporadic little rains everywhere. The rain was stronger in Bosasso area but that area is already bare and grazing growth for livestock is not expected but that rain was great assistance to the small-scale farmers who grow cash crops in the coastal area. The rains in the inland are not strong enough to give the pastoralists the security to forget the history of the drought they have experienced in the last six months. In some of the locations the rain was in fact good but the pastoralists never gave the land time to germinate edible grass. Two days after the rain pastoralists came from every region and to the rainy spot from all the directions. Sometimes you get confused how many animals are there in a small area of land. But they seam to be friendly to each other and they were grazing together peacefully. Goats and sheep are getting their belly full from rain grown grass but the camels are still not satisfied. The sky is still full of clouds and rains are expected to come at any moment. The concentrated grazing seeking pastoralists are expected to spread out in the coming few weeks. Life of the people has improved also a little. They have relieved them- selves from water trucking which is the biggest burden in their thoughts. Goats and sheep are changing to look better. That is a good indicator for the market price. There is no milk from the livestock because almost there was a total miscarriage during the winter months therefore, the life of the pastoral families will only depend on cooked dishes. At this time of the year pastoralists live only on the produce of their animals. There are some families that lost all their herds. These people used to get some animals from their extended families but in times like this, they moved to villages and only those who are willing to return to the hard pastoral life will have the possibility to be restocked by animals bought or collected for them. Many people say no pastoral life any more so they prefer to stay in the village as internally displaced. We have three teams now working with different communities to collect assessment information from the pastoral families. Only when the teams come back to Bossaso will we be able to report to you on our further suggestions. Best regards Omar M Irbad Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization Bosasso, Somalia Office hornorg@hotmail.com