By Namrud Berhane

Addis Ababa, July 22, 2006 – Pastoralists from the Horn of Africa, who held a ten day meeting at Yabello in Southern Ethiopia, have called on Gulf countries to lift a livestock import ban that has been imposed for the past six years.

Livestock imports from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan were banned in 2000 on grounds of an out break of the Rift Valley Fever (RVF).

In a bid to prevent the spread of the viral disease, authorities in Saudi Arabia and neighboring Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, imposed the ban. In 2002, Yemen eased its ban.

Representatives of pastoralists and officials from the Horn of Africa on Monday however have strongly protested the regional ban which some described as being based on a "fictitious" disease.

Speaking with The Reporter, Ali Wario, a Kenyan pastoralist Member of Parliament said: "They have been speaking of this Rift Valley Fever (RVF) for about ten years now, that is why they stopped us from exporting our animals. I do not believe in the RVF this is a fictitious disease created by some scientist to stop Africans from selling their livestock to the European Union and Saudi Arabia markets. This will allow the Australians, the New Zealanders and Americans sell their cattle to the Saudis. We want the facts on the table; where is the disease? How many cattle has it affected?"

Records put it, before the ban, the Horn used to export more than 3 million livestock per year to the Arabian Peninsula. Out of which more than 50 percent originated from Ethiopia, constituting the single most important source of income for pastoralists in the southeastern lowlands of the country.

Following the ban experts from organizations including the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) had concluded that the problem, initially exaggerated, had actually occurred only in some pocket areas of Kenya and southern Somalia and that it had been contained.

In March 1998 the UN had issued a report stating that the Rift Valley Fever outbreak in Southern Somalia was over, and that all the evidence collected had suggested that the epidemic had burnt out.

It said that there was no evidence at all that Rift Valley Fever ever had spread beyond flood affected areas. The report had also added that authorities in Ethiopia had declared that there was no Rift Valley Fever.

Top in the agenda of the pastoralists who were in Yabello from July 11 to 18 were issues related to links to market, increase in productivity and structure of governance.

"Livestock marketing cuts across every sector of pastoral development. You could be talking of health of women or children, you have to have the cow to sell and take the sick to the hospital. You want to talk of education you still need to think of livestock marketing," Wario added.

The ban, along with recurrent droughts has had a devastating effect on the pastoral community of the Horn.

Somaliland Minister of Pastoral Development and Environment, Fu'ad Adan Adde whose country before the ban exported cattle annually to Saudi Arabia says the ban is not a health issue as it is a political.

"The Saudis are taking our animals from Yemen, knowing that the cattle are from the Horn. What they want is an unorganized and cheap supply of animals from the Horn of Africa. We are eating the meat so are Ethiopians and the people of UN here where is this Rift Valley Fever?"

Adde said that individual Horn counties who had been lobbying for the lifting of the ban should now collaborate.

With regards to Ethiopian livestock being sold illegally across borders Adde told The Reporter: "I think on the border between Ethiopia and Somaliland there is some illegal trade. Unless, people are compelled everybody wants to pay tax and sell their animals. But if the right market is not there, then there is no option but to sell your animals illegally."

The ten day gathering was organized by OCHA-PCI and brought about 21 pastoral tribes from Ethiopia and some 19 others from around the world.

In the course of the eight days pastoralists exchanged successful experiences in their own countries which could be replicated by others.

Source: The Reporter