PRESS BRIEFING ON SOMALIA BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

The time was ripe to invest in the grass-roots development of Somalia, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

She said the United Nations had proposed to the international donor community that such development investment would not only be practical and helpful for the people on the ground, but also an example of peace-building from the ground up.  With the present emphasis on the political process, she cautioned, there was a serious risk of creating a political structure without an anchor.

[Attention over the past year or so has focused on political negotiations in Somalia resulting in the establishment of the Transitional National Government (TNG).  But lack of support from Somalia's warlords and faction leaders have restricted its ability to extend its authority far beyond the capital, Mogadishu.]

At the level of communities, Ms. McAskie said, Somalia was starting to build itself up from the grass roots, achieving a stability unseen for a long time.  The country's previous image of constantly feuding warlords and starving nomads was giving way to a certain amount of stability, particularly in the north-west and north-east.

People were rebuilding their villages and reopening schools across the country, although attendance percentages remained far lower than they had been, she said.  The United Nations was about to introduce a Somalia-wide, uniform national curriculum for primary schools.  On the health side, tuberculosis and other clinics were being reopened with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) carrying out immunization campaigns.

Ms. McAskie said that despite the current drought, nobody was starving and there was enough food for nine months.  Where possible, the United Nations was helping communities to invest in their own agricultural development.  But while the Organization wanted to project the image of a country starting to turn the corner, sporadic fighting continued and had forced it to evacuate from Baidoa about a week ago.  In addition, nothing had been received from the $83 million consolidated emergency appeal launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan last November.

Asked to reconcile the image of Somalia with another official's recent portrayal of a country pushed to the brink of disaster by the combined effects of drought, River Valley fever and the closure of the Barakat banking system, she said that while the Somali people were under tremendous pressure from those external effects, the situation was such that investment was possible.  While the loss of income from remittances had been a major setback, cautious but reasonable investments could be made in the country's stability.

In how much of Somalia was the United Nations active? another journalist asked.

Ms. McAskie said the Organization had staff working full time in three of the country's four parts, including the city of Hargeisa, in north-western Somaliland, which was more secure than Nairobi; in north-eastern Puntland; and in the southern cities of Baidoa and Garbahare.  But the area between Mogadishu and Puntland was still a lot more uncertain, and the southern city of Kismayo was not safe, she said.

Asked what kind of grass-roots investment the United Nations wanted, she told another correspondent that local factions which were turning themselves into local administration needed help in establishing governance structures.  They wanted to reopen the courts and set up district councils.  The United Nations needed to move from providing food aid to helping them invest in agriculture, she added.  Irrigation assistance was critical because of the poor rainfall.

Was the training of police forces being considered? another journalist asked. 

"We're not there yet," Ms. McAskie replied.  "We have to be able to stand up before we can walk, let alone walk before we can run," she said, stressing the need to consolidate the local administration's hold on the territory first.

Regarding the faction fighting, she told another correspondent that there were clashes between pro- and anti-TNG forces as well as skirmishes between other groups.  Particularly worrying were clashes in Baidoa between pro-TNG factions and the Somali Reconstruction and Restoration Council (SRRC), which had political control over the area.

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