Somali Government clarifies deputy minister’s comments on Aid Agencies :::Somalia's Government Says That it Bans Several International Aid Agencies

 update; ..Somali Government clarifies deputy minister’s comments on Aid Agencies
 ress release
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mogadishu -The government of Somalia wishes to clarify reports carried in the media and attributed to deputy minister at the water, energy and mining ministry. The TFG has not suspended the work of any aid agencies. We support and encourage humanitarian agencies to come to Somalia and help alleviate the plight of the suffering population. The TFG would never restrict the work of humanitarian agencies as this would run counter to our declared objective of raising the Somali people from the ashes of the last 20
years.
The statement attributed to the deputy minister was misunderstood and taken out of context. He was merely expressing his frustration over the fact that aid groups had failed to attend a meeting called by his ministry to address the prevailing drought that is ravaging the country and the humanitarian need arising from it. The TFG commends the work of organizations such as UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Concern, Norwegian Refugee Council and Danish Refugee Council.

Mr Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, the Prime Minister of Somalia said: “Our foremost task is to address the humanitarian needs of our people. To do this we need all the help we can get. My government welcomes and is eager to help facilitate the work any humanitarian agency that wishes to join us in this urgent endeavor.”

It is unfortunate that the armed opposition groups have stopped the aid workers from going about their tasks and helping the Somali people. The TFG renews its call to them to allow the aid agencies to operate freely throughout Somalia.
Office of the Prime Minister
Mogadishu, Somalia
Bulletin-ka Wakaalada  SONNA Talaado 14 Dec 2010.pdf
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  :::Somalia's Government Says That it Bans Several International Aid Agencies
Somalia’s government banned several international aid agencies, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, after they didn’t attend a scheduled meeting. The ministry of water, minerals and energy had called the meeting for 10 a.m. yesterday, Abdirahman Yusuf Farah, deputy minister, told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu, today. “These agencies failed to came to the meeting, so the ministry decided to officially ban them from working in Somalia,” Farah said. He didn’t say how long the ban would last. The other agencies to be banned were Daryeel Bulsho Guud DBG and the Norwegian Refugee Council. Many of Somalia’s poor have depended on aid for years in a country that hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of former Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. No one answered the phone at the Unicef Somalia Support Center in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, when Bloomberg called seeking comment today. “Officially we didn’t receive a statement from the transitional federal government,” Yves Van Loo, a spokesman for the ICRC delegation for Somalia, said in a phone interview from Nairobi.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.