press conference by acting humanitarian coordinator on situation in somalia

The international community would be missing an opportunity if it failed to come forward forcefully and help Somalia’s political process and humanitarian situation, Christian Balslev-Olesen, Acting Humanitarian Coordinator there, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

As he answered questions about the situation in Somalia, Mr. Balslev-Olesen drew a link between the country’s political and humanitarian situations, warning that failure by the international community to deliver on the humanitarian front would backfire on the political process.  Conversely, failure to move forward on the political front would backfire on the ability to gain humanitarian access.

He said, in response to another question, that there was a feeling that Somalia had been left “outside the map” since the traumatic experiences of 1992 and 1993.  The international community was very reluctant to return with the kind of assistance needed to rehabilitate the country, as had been seen in Afghanistan.  It was important to bear in mind that the lessons of 1992 had been learned and international humanitarian personnel were permanently based in Somalia.

Second, there was now a political process in the country for the first time in 15 years, he said.  There was a new Parliament and a new Government, weak as it was, which was actually trying to take control, provide law and order, build up the police and implement a national security plan.

He said that the Emergency Appeal on Somalia released two weeks ago painted a very severe picture of the situation.  The country would be part of the regional Appeal to be launched on Friday in New York, Geneva and Nairobi.

Asked how much the Appeal was requesting, Mr. Balslev-Olesen said the updated Appeal sought a total of $326 million for Somalia alone.  The amount for the other countries in the region would be announced at Friday’s launch.

Had Somalia become a haven for terrorists? another correspondent asked.  In response, he stressed the need to be careful with language.  While some elements in Somalia had been called extremists, it was very difficult to determine exactly who they were or what their affiliations were.  Traditionally and historically, Somalia had never had any radical extremist expression.  However, some small cells were operating in Mogadishu and in the central-southern part of the country.

The same journalist pointed out that the problems in Darfur had started with the loss of livestock due to drought and with people encroaching on the lands of others in their search for water and pasture.  Was there a parallel in Somalia?

Mr. Balslev-Olesen said he saw no immediate parallel, but the lack of such resources as food, water and land added to conflict.  That was why the international humanitarian community was putting a lot of effort into facilitating reconciliation and peace processes among local communities in Somalia, as well as ensuring that humanitarian interventions actually represented an opportunity for peace and reconciliation.  Asked how much money Somalia could expect from the new Central Emergency Relief Fund, he said the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, had received its first allocation of funding, and proposals for the second disbursement had already been presented.

Another correspondent, referring back to the early 1990s, asked about plans to revert to that era’s emergency relief distribution system, whereby warlords were paid to deliver food from one point to another.

Mr. Balslev-Olesen said that the United Nations and the international community operating in Somalia had learned a lesson from that period and were not doing business as they had previously done.  Instead, they were working much more closely with local communities, in order to facilitate humanitarian access, rather than impose it.  Also, the World Food Programme (WFP) was not paying the contractors until the food had actually been delivered to the beneficiaries agreed upon.

Asked whether it was sustainable basically to “juggle various warlords and pay them off with a piece of the United Nations pie”, he said the reality in Somalia was that the Government was not in total control.  Warlord-controlled roads, airstrips and port facilities were the reality in Somalia.

How did its immediate neighbours help or exacerbate the political and humanitarian situations in Somalia? a journalist asked.

He said that, while it was difficult to say whether neighbouring countries were delivering funding or food aid, there was a close sharing of information.  For instance, an immunization campaign on the Kenya-Ethiopia border would make no sense unless it was coordinated with other neighbouring countries.

He also stressed the great importance of a balanced approach to the situation, noting that if all funding and assistance went to one country, there would soon be cross-border movement into that country by drought-affected populations in the countries that were not receiving any.

Asked how many humanitarian and United Nations personnel were on the ground in Somalia, he said there were more than 1,000 national and international staff from all the United Nations agencies working in the country.  However, there were no international personnel in Mogadishu and Kismayu.

Earlier, he said about 25 per cent of the population –- or 2.5 million people, including 400,000 internally displaced persons -- was totally dependent on international assistance.  Central-southern Somalia was at high risk of famine, a very specific technical term meaning that 10,000 to 12,000 of every million people would starve to death every month unless the situation was addressed immediately.

He said 50 per cent of Somalia’s livestock had already died and indications were that losses could rise as high as 80 per cent in the coming weeks and months.  Up to 80 per cent of schools in drought-affected areas had closed in a country where only 20 per cent of children had access to education under normal conditions.  In addition, the country was experiencing a polio outbreak, with more than 200 cases documented near the Kenyan border and raising the possibility that the disease could spread beyond Somalia’s borders.  There had also been a number of deaths resulting from measles.

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For information media • not an official record