THE UNITED Nations is to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the response to Horn of Africa drought, which it says has already killed tens of thousands of people.
Famine was declared in two regions of Somalia on Wednesday – the first time this has occurred since 1992 – with 3.7 million people needing urgent humanitarian assistance. A further eight million people require food in neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation said the meeting at its Rome headquarters on Monday next would be attended by its 191 member countries, as well as NGOs, other UN organisations and the regional development bank. France, the current president of the G20 group of leading economies, called the meeting.
Topping the agenda will be discussions on how to deliver aid safely and effectively into Somalia. While the drought has been severe across the Horn, with some areas receiving the lowest rainfall for 60 years, Somalia has been worst affected because of conflict, lack of governance and the security risks facing aid groups.
Having had no effective government since the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, the country is gripped by an Islamist insurgency led by the hardline al-Shabab militia. The group, which controls much of the south, lifted a ban earlier this month on international humanitarian groups, including the World Food Programme, but aid groups are seeking guarantees food will not be diverted and aid workers will be safe.
About 135,000 Somalis have fled the country since January, mainly to Ethiopia and Kenya. In recent weeks, the exodus has increased sharply, with more than 3,000 people crossing the borders each day in search of assistance. Those arriving at refugee camps such as Dadaab in northern Kenya have described their harrowing journeys to get there.
Other Somalis have fled to the capital, Mogadishu, in search of help. On a visit to the city on Thursday, World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran said the organisation would start airlifts of food within days and was “testing the ground” to find the best ways of getting life-saving assistance to people in famine-affected areas such as Bakool and Lower Shabelle, which used to be regarded as a breadbasket for the country.
“People in the south of Somalia are too ill and weak to go in search of food, so we must bring it to them,” Ms Sheeran said. “WFP is preparing to open up a number of new routes, by land and air, into the core of the famine zone to establish the necessary operating conditions, including those that will secure the safety of humanitarian personnel.”
The American government designated al-Shabab as a terrorist group last year, meaning no US aid could flow to areas under the group’s control. But the US Agency for International Development said this week that it would send assistance to areas held by the insurgents, but only if it was given assurances that the rebels would not hamper distribution, levy taxes or demand bribes from aid organisations.
The Kenyan government, which already hosts more than 370,000 Somalis in Dadaab, says the flow over its border is unmanageable. Spokesman Alfred Mutua said yesterday that aid drops were required to get food to those affected in Somalia and to slow the flow of refugees. He also called for feeding centres to be set up within southern Somalia. – (Guardian service)