On top of the losses incurred in buying the livestock, Zeinab is also loosing money fast on paying people to look after the herds and buying water to keep the animals alive. The internal market is insignificant compared to the export one. Even the type of livestock differs according to which market they are meant for. There is really not much trade and business going on in Warder. Its impact here has been significant in the Ogaden, which is struggling to recover from the effects of a three year drought.
Livestock is the backbone of the pastoralist economy, in a region closely tied to Somalia.
Many moved to urban centres, particularly Gode, the capital of the Ogaden, and survived on aid. Now I have only 20 camels, three cows and about 50 sheep and goats. He said he used to take the animals across the border and trade in neighbouring Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwest Somalia, and Burao. So intimately linked are the economies of the Ethiopian Somali Region and Somalia, that the traders use the Somali shilling in preference to the Ethiopian Birr. In Warder, Zeinab says it is the responsibility of the regional and central government in Ethiopia to get the ban lifted.