Region | Somalia
MSF makes urgent Somalia appeal
The ongoing cycle of violence in Somalia since 1991 has taken its toll on the population, who have been thrown into a "catastrophic" situation and are currently facing a humanitarian disaster, warned a relief agency.
- By Jumana Al Tamimi, Associate Editor
- Published: 00:07 June 27, 2008
Dubai: The ongoing cycle of violence in Somalia since 1991 has taken its toll on the population, who have been thrown into a "catastrophic" situation and are currently facing a humanitarian disaster, warned a relief agency.
Unless civilians get safe access to aid providers, the situation will continue to deteriorate, said Hugues Robert, head of the emergency desk of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Geneva.
"What we are asking for is to keep the population away from the violence and the political situation, and to have access to the population to provide them with what they need," said Robert.
"Three of our colleagues were killed in January this year," he told Gulf News in an interview from Geneva.
Since the ousting of Mohammad Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been thrown into a continuous cycle of violence.
In the past two years aid agencies and humanitarian groups have scaled down their activities because of the bad security situation, which is currently blamed on rebels who were ousted by Somali and Ethiopian forces in early 2007.
This highly volatile security situation in Somalia prevents any significant evolution in the level and quality of assistance.
Humanitarian workers are regularly targeted, abducted or killed.
Women and children are the first to suffer from the deteriorating security situation in the country. MSF warned yesterday that thousands of children in Somalia, the country which has been described as one of the most violent in the world, suffer from malnutrition.
The number doubles from month to month, while large numbers of adults are unable to travel to find food, as many border crossings are closed.
"The situation is tragic and we are unable to provide the aid necessary to prevent a further deterioration of the situation," said Bruno Jochum, MSF director of operations in Geneva, in a statement, a copy of which was sent to Gulf News.
"Somalia is no longer on the verge of a catastrophe, the disaster is happening now," adds Jochum.
"In November last year," said Robert, "the mortality rate reached 3.7 deaths per 10,000 people in one of the areas near Mogadishu. Seven months later (now), the situation is getting worse," he said, adding that when a mortality rate reaches 2, the group "considers it an emergency".
At the same time, the World Food Program (WFP), has urged the international community to provide protection to ships carrying aid to the people of Somalia.
Somalia's territorial waters are far from safe, and ships are often targeted by armed pirates.
The UN Security Council earlier authorised foreign warships to enter Somali waters to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea. French and Danish frigates have been escorting WFP ships to Somalia since last November.
What we are asking for is to keep the population away from.
Insurgency: Death toll still rising
The conflict in Somalia has killed 2,136 civilians so far this year, bringing the death toll since an insurgency began in early 2007 to 8,636. The Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation said yesterday it had also recorded 11,790 civilian injuries since the start of last year, when rebels began attacking the Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies. "If the international community does not intervene ... Somalis will soon become extinct," the group's chairman, Sudan Ali Ahmad, told Reuters. Hundreds of fighters on both sides have also died, locals say.
- Reuters
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