( Mogadishu, tf.sf Wednesday 20 July 2011) During a joint visit with President Jerry Rawlings today to a camp for displaced Somalis, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense H. E. Abdihakim Fiqi called attention to the fundamental causes of the famine that has hit the people of the war-torn country. He highlighted what his government is doing for the country but also outlined the fragility of the state and the enduring conflict which hinders the provision of basic services.Twenty years of conflict have devastated the state institutions of Somalia. Nine thousand troops from the African Union Mission for Somalia are supporting the Transitional Federal Government as it seeks to defeat an Al Qaeda-linked insurgency, design a constitution for all the Somali people and transition the country to full sovereignty.
Rawlings today paid a fleeting visit to Mogadishu’s IDPs camps
Within two days of being sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the Transitional Government, Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, established an emergency National Humanitarian Committee to direct the government’s response to the humanitarian crisis in the country. Shortly after being appointed the Prime Minister met with key UN agencies and continues to work with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to help the delivery of aid in Somalia.
Rawlings today paid a fleeting visit to Mogadishu’s IDPs camps
The Committee, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, has initiated a global appeal to draw attention to the plight of Somalis. The Committee established a camp in Dharkinlay, south west of Mogadishu, where it is allocating shelter for displaced people arriving in the city. The government has established sanitation and clean drinking water for the 4,000 displaced people who have arrived so far.
Together with the Mayor of Mogadishu, the Committee has delivered food and basic items to the camp. Through the Committee, the government has committed $500,000 of emergency aid. In total food, shelters, blankets and other non-food items have been provided to displaced people in eight of the sixteen IDP camps in the capital.
Responding to today’s announcement by the UN of a famine in Somalia, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Committee said: “I – and on behalf of the Somali people – are immensely grateful to those UN agencies and all the people, the NGOs, who are helping on the ground. We welcome the delivery of much needed aid in the Baidoa region and elsewhere in Somalia, and urge those who have blocked life-saving aid for too long do everything in their power now to deliver food to those who are suffering.”
The Committee has also been working with the media and international media partners to highlight the appeal and the bank account it has set up. The Somali Diaspora have donated generously and the first International aid agencies, Qatar charity has provided emergency supplies.
Prime Minister Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said, “Today the world’s attention is on my country but I ask the world to address the fundamental causes of this humanitarian catastrophe and urgently ask for the resources needed to rebuild the Somali state in the midst of an ongoing conflict. I am determined to see the country be able to look after its own people but we will need committed international support to do so.
“This is going to get worse for the Somali people, before it gets better.”
Notes to editors
The National Humanitarian Support Committee of Ministers recently opened bank accounts at the Somali Central Bank
· US Dollar Account #750: Central Bank of Somalia - Mogadishu.
Rawlings today paid a fleeting visit to Mogadishu’s IDPs camps
Somali Shilling Account #749: Central Bank of Somalia - Mogadishu.
The Committee resolved that the 100% of the aid will reach it’s the drought stricken population.
Monies received at the Bank Accounts opened will be managed by the National IDP Support Committee.
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AU calls for urgent help to the drought displaced Somalis
MOGADISHU (tf.sf) – The African Union on Wednesday called for the international community to urgently respond the deteriorating situation of drought affected Somalis who some of them poured into the Mogadishu, the capital in search of food and water.An AU delegation led by the organization’s especial envoy to Somalia, Jerry Rawlings today paid a fleeting visit to Mogadishu’s IDPs camps where thousands of drought displaced people resorted to live severe drought decimated all their livelihoods.Former Ghanaian president who is currently serving as AU’s top representative for Somalia Rawlings and now is in Mogadishu for official second day visit on Wednesday warned that many Somalis could die of hunger and starvation if the world nations don’t deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to war weary horn of African nation.“There is a severe humanitarian situation in Somalia currently; I call on the international community to take a sudden step to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people” Rawlings said in a press conference held in Mogadishu.The visit of AU delegation to IDPs camp (Badbado) in Mogadishu comes one day after Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed visited there delivering aid including plastic sheets, mats and blankets to the IDPs.Ahmed on Tuesday declared a state of famine, the worst in decades. Ahmed tied the mass influx of Somali refugees flooding into Kenya and Ethiopia to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa nation, which has not had any functioning central government for two decades.
U.N. declares famine in two regions of south Somalia
The United Nations Wednesday declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, and warned that this could spread further within two months in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country unless donors step in.
Mark Bowden, humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle had been hit by the worst famine in the region in 20 years, and the situation could spread to all eight regions in the south.Years of drought -- also affecting Kenya and Ethiopia --have hit harvests and conflict has made it extremely difficult for agencies to operate and access communities in the south of the country, the U.N. said.
The south is controlled by al Shabaab Islamist insurgents, affiliated to al Qaeda, who are fighting to topple the Western-backed government in the anarchic country. The group also controls parts of the capital Mogadishu and central Somalia.In early July, the rebels lifted a ban on food aid which they had said created dependency. Some analysts say they are allowing aid in because they fear a public backlash if they do not. Others say the rebels want bribes.The U.N. has said the inability of food agencies to work in the region since early 2010 because of the ban had contributed to the crisis."If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," said Bowden."Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine affected areas."Bowden said the U.N. is appealing for $300 million over the next two months for Somalia alone.The U.N. said across the country, 3.7 million people, nearly half of the Somali population, were now in danger, of whom 2.8 million people are in the south.Famine is defined as a crude mortality rate of more than 2 people per 10,000 per day and wasting rates of above 30 percent in children under five years old across an entire region, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).The U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, said Tuesday it was seeking further security guarantees from the armed rebels in order to deliver greater amounts of assistance and prevent more hungry people from becoming refugees.
AMISOM Comes To The Aid Of Somali IDPs
Doctors from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are helping to tackle an outbreak of measles at a camp for Somalis displaced by the drought ravaging the country. The camp, which has sprung up in the last two weeks next to the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, is estimated to hold 700 people though the number is increasing every day. Many, particularly children, show signs of severe malnutrition and say they have walked for up to five days in search of food. Living conditions at the camp are also extremely poor and have been worsened by recent heavy rains in the capital.AMISOM’s Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) unit has erected 5 large waterproof tents at the camp to serve as accommodations and a medical centre. AMISOM doctors have begun offering free medical treatment, including distributing Vitamin A pills. In addition to measles, they are also dealing with other diseases, such as malaria and diarrhoea, resulting from a combination of severe malnutrition and the unsanitary conditions at the camp. Serious cases are being referred to AMISOM’s Level 2 hospital at the main base.“Though we have few resources, we are doing all we can to help alleviate the suffering,” said CIMIC head, Lt Col. Kaamurari Katwekyeire, adding that AMISOM planned to provide waterproof plastic sheeting to cover the refugees’ shacks which are currently made of sticks and cloth.He also called on international aid agencies to act urgently and help prevent a catastrophe. “The need is great and we can only make small emergency interventions. We hope that humanitarian organizations will take advantage of the improved security situation to come to the aid of the Somali people,” he said.Somalia is enduring its worst drought in half a century and the UN estimates that close to 3 million Somalis –a third of the population- are facing the prospect of starvation. all attachments View all images
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