UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $79 MILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO SOMALIA
Press Release
AFR/48
IHA/655
UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $79 MILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO SOMALIA
19980331 NEW YORK, 31 March (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nations today launched the 1998 consolidated inter-agency appeal for Somalia, requesting $79 million to ensure the continuation of urgently needed humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance this year.Appealing agencies are the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO) and, in cooperation with the UNDP, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). Annexed to the appeal is a separate request for $15.3 million to meet the most pressing needs through June, in the wake of massive floods in that country.
Over the past two years, the United Nations agencies operating in Somalia have developed a common assistance strategy, in close conjunction with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donor governments. This strategy is based on the principle of joint programming and greater coordination of efforts, within the larger context, of area-based planning and implementation. United Nations agencies will continue to target much of their assistance towards vulnerable groups, including women and children, returnee refugees, internally displaced persons, and the poorest segments of Somali society, who are most affected by the crisis.
In the absence of a national government and institutions, United Nations agencies have been required to play an even greater role in Somalia to ensure that potentially manageable emergencies do not develop into major humanitarian crises. Much of the rehabilitation work the United Nations system undertakes constitutes emergency actions. Nearly the entire Somali population lacks access to education and basic health services. Repeated outbreaks of cholera, malaria, and one of the world's highest incidences of tuberculosis have drastically lowered life expectancy. After seven years of internal conflict, most public infrastructure has been destroyed. The short-term objectives outlined in the consolidated inter-agency appeal are to prevent a recurrence of widespread humanitarian emergencies, including through the development of effective monitoring and response capacities for humanitarian emergencies, to
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strengthen rehabilitation and governance efforts which represent the most minimal and essential needs required for Somalia to exit the current state of crisis, and to create a socio-economic environment conducive to the return of refugees and the internally displaced by working with local communities and administrative structures. Activities include ensuring the provision of essential health services through the supply of drugs and pharmaceuticals, training of health personnel, ensuring access to safe drinking water, preventing communicable diseases, and rehabilitating schools.
The deleterious impact of the recent floods in Somalia which displaced hundreds of thousands of Somalis, devastated arable lands, and adversely affected up to 1 million people, will continue to be felt well into the year. Furthermore, with the start of the rainy season in the spring, a new flood emergency is looming in southern Somalia. A flash appeal launched by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has been included as an annex of the 1998 consolidated inter-agency appeal for Somalia. It requests $15.3 million through June for United Nations agencies and partner NGOs to address the most urgent humanitarian needs arising from the flood emergency.
The international community is requested to respond generously to both appeals, to relieve the protracted suffering of the Somali people and to provide a basis for the longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.
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