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Mogadishu(Somalia), March 25: About 40 aid agencies serving Somalia said Tuesday they can't help millions of Somalis, blaming the existence of too many checkpoints, danger that aid workers face and "a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict."
The agencies have warned of an impending catastrophe in Somalia unless urgent action is taken.
"The crisis engulfing Somalia has deteriorated dramatically, while access to people in need continues to decrease," said a statement
signed by organizations including World Vision, Oxfam International and Cooperative Assistance for Relief Everywhere, among others, agency reports said.
The statement was timed to coincide with a scheduled U.N. Security Council meeting this week to discuss a report issued on Somalia by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month.
Last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon presented the council with a report proposing the deployment of 27,000 peacekeepers to replace the stretched African Union force.
In a joint statement, the 40 local and international aid agencies pointed out that in October last year they warned that Somalia was heading towards crisis.
Six months on, they said the situation in the war-ravaged country had deteriorated dramatically and access to those in need had got far worse.
The organizations want the humanitarian situation to be part of any discussion or decision on the situation in the African nation.
Since the NGOs warned of "an impending humanitarian catastrophe" in October, some 360,000 people in Somalia have been displaced, the statement said, and an additional 500,000 rely on humanitarian assistance.
"There are now more than 1 million internally displaced people in Somalia," the statement said.
"Intense conflict in Mogadishu continues to force an average of 20,000 people from their homes each month. This, combined with record high food prices, perinflation and drought in large parts of the country, is leaving communities struggling to survive."
The organization said "numerous obstacles" prevent humanitarian aid from reaching all those in need. They include "administrative delays, restrictions or delays in movement of goods, targeting of humanitarian workers and assets including the looting of aid and carjackings, piracy [and] negative perception of humanitarian workers," among others.
Six aid workers have been killed in Somalia since January 2008, World Vision said, triggering some agencies to pull their personnel from the country. As of Tuesday, the number of checkpoints and roadblocks was 396 -- a huge increase from the 147 reported in January 2007, the organization said.
The statement implores the international community, as well as parties to the Somalian conflict, to focus on the humanitarian situation there.
A million Somalis have left their homes because of insecurity and hunger, while a further 20,000 flee the capital Mogadishu every month, they say.
Over the past year Mogadishu has been rocked by almost daily violence between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's government.
The agencies said two million Somalis need daily help to survive the crisis, which has been made worse by record food prices, hyper-inflation and drought in many parts of the country.
Seasonal rains due to start soon are also predicted to fail.
"For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten," the agencies said.
They urged "the international community and all parties to the conflict to urgently focus their attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Somalia".
Last week, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. special representative for Somalia, pleaded with the Security Council not to turn its back on the nation.
"Please don't abandon Somalia," he said in a meeting Thursday.
"Please don't punish them, especially those who were not born then, or were not responsible during the early '90s when their elders made mistakes against the international community."
Meanwhile, Somali refugees have affected neighboring countries.
Authorities in Djibouti estimate about 100 refugees cross the border daily, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
One Somali, Faizo Ibrahim Ali, told the UNHCR, "There was no choice but to flee, because of there is war there -- and a woman alone is in great danger of being raped."
The Djibouti government says it is overwhelmed by the influx of refugees. So far this year, more than 2,000 refugees have been registered by the UNHCR -- that's more than double the number recorded in all of last year.
Last month, the UN warned that Somalia was the world's "forgotten crisis". |
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