Mr. Secretary-General,

Your Excellencies; Distinguished Delegates;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

IOM is honoured to be playing a support role to buttress the
efforts of United Nations agencies in the Horn of Africa where we
have been engaged with more than 600 staff on the ground and have
capacity to surge further.

IOM's relief activities (related to the worst drought since
1995, which has displaced an estimated 7.5 million people –
one in every three Somalis) are clustered into three sets of
life-saving actions: transport, medical and shelter.

Emergency Transport

IOM's primary response, carried out in close coordination with
regional governments and UNHCR, is the transport and medical
clearance to date of more than 50,000 displaced Somalis, who have
crossed borders to date in Kenya and Ethiopia. More than 1,100
others have been reunited with their families after being separated
during the long journey to safety.

Medical Assistance

Second, IOM is working in partnership with the Government of
Ethiopia to support primary health services and vaccinations in
Melkadida Camp -- about 80 km from the Ethiopia-Somalia border. In
August, IOM doctors and nurses also inoculated thousands of
children for measles and polio, and treated 1,500 patients in the
camp.

Shelter

Third, IOM is providing emergency shelter in Dadaab. In
partnership with UNHCR, we have constructed 80 percent (6,000) of
the 7,500 emergency shelters required.

Partnership

IOM's activities are carried-out in partnership with governments
and agencies in the host countries and communities in which we
serve. As with the more than 200,000 migrants IOM and UNHCR
evacuated from Libya in recent months, it is the immense generosity
of neighbouring countries – in this case the Governments of
Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and their host communities – that
has made our support activities possible. These countries have
opened-up their hearts, homes, and pocketbooks to the most
vulnerable , and their openness is to be commended for providing
migrants a safe place to live, however temporary. As we deliberate
the longer-term livelihood solutions for drought-affected regions,
we must consider too, the impact on these border communities.

Short and Long-Term Solutions

IOM supports the Declaration of the Heads of States who met in
Nairobi two weeks ago to examine long-term solutions to drought
emergencies. Our concern has to be that while droughts are longer,
more frequent, more intense and less predictable -- our
interventions are more and more short-term.

The droughts have drastically reduced livelihood coping capacity
for pastoral communities who traditionally move from one location
to another in search of water and pasture for their animals. For
these communities, migration has been and will continue to be a
coping and adaptation mechanism. It is crucial, however, to ensure
that natural disasters such as drought do not lead to the forced
migration we see today.

Conclusion

We are grateful for the donor support we have received so far.
We value the efficient coordination with our partner agencies. We
salute the international alliance that is addressing the immediate
needs of the displaced populations in the Horn of Africa. And the
courage of the governments and people of the Horn of Africa inspire
us all to do more and to stay the course.