Humanitarian need growing in Sudan and Somalia – UN
December 6, 2007 (UNITED NATIONS) — The top U.N. aid official called on Thursday for big increases in assistance for refugees in Somalia and Sudan next year as security deteriorated for millions of people displaced by conflict.
Under-Secretary-General John Holmes said aid for Somalia would need to rise by a third to $400 million (197 million pounds) next year while funding for Sudan’s Darfur region should increase to $825 million from around $700 million this year.
“Increasingly terrible things are now happening in Mogadishu, as it descends into the nightmare of urban guerrilla warfare and reciprocal atrocities,” Holmes told the Security Council, reporting on a visit to Africa.
“The international community has the responsibility not to abandon the Somali people to their fate,” he said, noting that even though security kept most international aid workers out of the country, more should be done to help those in need.
Holmes said half the population of Mogadishu, or 600,000 people, had fled persistent fighting since Somalia’s transitional government came to power after ousting militant Islamists early this year.
The Somalia Consolidated Appeal, which coordinates U.N. agencies and aid groups, would need at least $400 million in 2008, up from $300 million this year for an estimated 1.5 million needy people, he said.
The Somali government has long urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers but Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last month security was too bad even to send a technical assessment team.
Security Council members said last month it was vital to keep planning for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia despite Ban’s view that such a force was unrealistic at this time.
Holmes said that while peacekeeping forces need a peace to keep, “lack of high-level attention is not an option for Somalia, any more than it is for Darfur.”
A hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force is due to deploy in Darfur from the start of January. Holmes called it an important step for improving the humanitarian situation.
U.N. officials have said Khartoum had delayed deployment with bureaucratic obstacles and by refusing to approve the inclusion of some non-African units in the force. The United Nations is also still seeking helicopters for the force.
Holmes warned that a decline in security and bureaucratic obstacles were hindering aid operations in Darfur, where U.N. experts estimate that 200,000 people have been killed in four years of fighting, and 2.4 million displaced from their homes.
He said morale among aid workers was low and the humanitarian operation in Darfur was increasingly fragile.
Holmes was also concerned about the prospect of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Ethiopia, where he urged the government to act to avert famine for many of the 4.5 million people in the vulnerable Ogaden region.
(Reuters)
Aimee Pearce
Humanitarian need growing in Sudan and Somalia – UN
I am a student at a University in Kansas, USA and my class has been discussing the situation in Darfur. The more I read, the more disturbed I become. My heart goes out to the people in Darfur. I wept as a read account after account of life in the camps and of families waiting 2 weeks for food. I see pictures of children, malnourished and hungry. I see the militia group killing and killing innocent Darfurians. I hear about the continuous rapes and diseases that are being spread. I read about the UN and AU and Khartoum government and deployment of peacekeepers and the blocking of said peacekeepers if they are not African, Pakistani or Chinese descent.
I know the UN has to follow certain guidelines; however, why can’t Europe and the USA just send the helicopters over there to help protect the citizens of Darfur and the humanitarian workers? Why must the Jangaweed militia group and the Khartoum government ransack the convoys going into the camps to offer help to those in need? I thought the whole world consisted of One Nation Under God? They are fighting in the name of religion, when one God made the whole universe and made all people.
Why can’t we all get along and make peace? Maybe peace comes from within and not the greed of the Khartoum government and Jangaweed. We are to help our fellow brother and sister, what would you do if the situation was reversed? What if it was YOU in the situation in Darfur? Would you want help internationally? I would think you would say, “Yes” Can’t you see the faces and the saddened eyes of the Darfurians? All they want is to be able to return to their lands and re-build what little life they have left. They want to be reunited with their family members and friends. Some of their family members are only going to be a memory because they were killed at the hands of the Jangaweed. A memory of how short life is to some. Let us make the best of a horrible situation and help out. If we can’t help financially, then let us lift Darfur up in prayer. When 2 or 3 are gathered together in his name, their he will be in the midst of them. If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. I believe, Don’t You?