NAIROBI, April 18, 2008 — Worsening security in the Somali breakaway region of Puntland is choking off humanitarian efforts, donors and aid agencies warned Friday, nearly two weeks after two UN staffers escaped an ambush.

This has prompted agencies to temporarily reduce the number of international staff in the northeastern region, where the local population is still in need of help, they said in a statement released by the UN Development Programme.

"The international community is gravely concerned about the steady trend in the deterioration of security conditions in the Puntland State of Somalia," the statement said.

"We call on Puntland State authorities to take steps to ensure the safety of staff working to help the people, and to show their commitment by their actions in subjecting the perpetrators of attacks against aid workers to due process of law."

The agencies urged influential traditional and religious leaders to renounce and expose lawlessness and participate in efforts to ensure aid programmes are not hampered.

The statement said an incident on April 6, when two staff members of the UN refugee agency narrowly escaped an ambush on their vehicle by armed militiamen in Puntland, had highlighted the worsening situation.

Two aid workers and a journalist were abducted late last year and a German aid worker was briefly held in February in a region disputed by Puntland and the neighboring breakaway region of Somaliland.

Two other aid workers -- a Kenyan and a Briton -- employed by an India-based organization and contracted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization are currently held by gunmen in southern Somalia.

Puntland, which broke away from Somalia proper in 1995, is relatively stable compared to other parts of the country, where Islamist militants are carrying out a deadly insurgency against Ethiopia-Somali troops as well as African Union peacekeepers.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre. Numerous internationally-backed peace bids have failed to restore stability.

Source: AFP

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