|
New York,
September 26, 2009 – The drought crisis in war-torn Somalia is turning
increasingly acute and spreading to regions previously spared, with half
the country’s 7 million people in need of aid, an increasing risk of
deaths, and insufficient international donor response, a senior United
Nations official said on Wednesday.
“Somalia needs to be seen as a priority case,” UN Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Bowden told a news briefing in New York.
“The implications of not responding now are a future of miserable
destitution but also the potential to tip the region into a far greater
level of crisis through the movement of Somalia’s population out of the
country if assistance isn’t provided…
“We have critical shortages in the water, sanitation, health and
nutrition areas which endanger the relief operation at the moment. We
need to have a far clearer view from the donor community itself as to
the continued commitments for the relief programme to the end of this
year,” he added, calling the current aid insufficient.
Mr. Bowden noted that Somalia hosts the biggest displaced population
globally at the moment, with some 1.5 million displaced “living in
conditions which are, I think, some of the worst for displaced
populations in the world.
“Before this I worked in (Sudan’s war-torn region of) Darfur, and I’m
concerned that conditions for the displaced populations in Somalia are
if anything worse than in Darfur,” he said.
He said the problem was exacerbated because Somalia is essentially a
pastoralist trading economy and there have been high cattle death rates.
“A large proportion of the population are losing their livelihoods and
we are, I believe, this year at a critical point,” he added, noting that
the effects of the drought had now spread from its epicenter in central
and southern Somalia to Somaliland and Puntland in the north.
He stressed that relief operations in Somalia are challenging. “It is
the most difficult and complex environment for humanitarian
organizations to work,” he said. “We have, however, despite attacks on
humanitarian workers, despite the many obstacles that exist in Somalia,
been able to maintain humanitarian assistance.”
Meanwhile, the 33-member International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG),
which is seeking to bring peace and stability to a country that has had
no functioning central government for nearly 20 years, met in New York
today, with the top UN political official warning that the whole world
will pay a heavy price if their efforts falter.
“It is now critical that we deploy concrete and meaningful assistance to
the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) to enable it to consolidate
its position, establish institutions that would allow it to address the
needs of the people and begin to deliver concrete peace dividends,”
Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe said.
The TFG, assisted by a nascent African Union mission know as AMISOM, is
battling Islamic militant movements that control much of the south.
AMISOM is slated to achieve its full strength of 8,000 personnel by the
end of the year and the UN is working hard to expedite a support package
for the mission, Mr. Pascoe noted.
“We believe that our support for the Transitional Federal Government and
to the Somali people will be further enhanced as we establish a UN
presence in Mogadishu (the war-battered capital) in the near future,
security conditions permitting,” he added.
Source: UN New Service, September 23, 2009
|
|
