NAIROBI, 7 Dec 2024 (IRIN) - The UN and other relief agencies in Somalia launched an appeal on Monday for about US $164 million to, among other things, provide urgently needed aid and services to hundreds of thousands of conflict and drought-affected people in the war-ravaged nation.

The Somalia 2005 Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) also targets the promotion of human rights and access to basic services, support for good governance and building the capacity of the Somali civil society. "Now is the time to invest in a better future for Somalia," the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, said at the CAP launch in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Somalia, he noted, had continued to be one of the world's "most neglected and forgotten emergencies". Saying that the year 2005 would be the "make or break year" for Somalia, England urged the international donor community to respond generously to the appeal. "Donors should not be discouraged by the sense of scepticism that set in following the failure of UN efforts in the early and mid-1990s to bring peace and stability in Somalia," he said.

"If we succeed, we will for the first time in more than a decade be able to provide certain life-saving services and hope to all the Somalis," said Egeland. "If we fail, Somalia will continue into an endless spiral of despair, exploding disease - including an AIDS pandemic - anarchy, chaos and also a safe haven for extremist groups and terrorists."

Describing the high mortality rates among both children and adults in Somalia as a "moral outrage", Egeland appealed to Somali leaders to end the "senseless infighting" that destroyed their country and pledged continued UN support to the new transitional government, which he said has to be "credible and accountable to the people of Somalia".

According to the appeal, the agencies are seeking the funds to tackle food shortages, improve health services, support education and enhance protection and respect for human rights in 2005. "Somalia's estimated 6.8 million people live in extremely poor and underdeveloped conditions," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in the appeal. Out of the total population, five percent - at least 400,000 - were internally displaced. Another five percent were living as refugees, it noted.

OCHA said the country was at "a crossroads as the conclusion of the latest peace talks leads to the formation of a new transitional government that promises to end years of political instability and violence". "The situation is further aggravated by four consecutive years of severe drought conditions that have now spread from the northern regions to the central parts," OCHA added. "Pastoralists in the Sool plateau have lost more than 80 percent of their livestock, resulting in a livelihood crisis, indebtedness and general economic stagnation in the affected regions."

According to the appeal, the impact of violence and armed conflict on the civilian population � coupled with the continuing drought, especially in the Sool Plateau, Somaliland and Puntland - were the main humanitarian concerns for 2005. OCHA said an assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) in July had estimated that 700,000 people were food insecure and required external assistance.

"Somalis continue to suffer from high malnutrition rates due to the combined effects of internal displacement, drought, food insecurity, poor feeding practices and health problems," the appeal said. The overall health situation, it noted, showed that Somalia had some of the worst health indicators in the world. A new government for Somalia was announced on Tuesday by interim Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi at a ceremony attended by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Yusuf was elected to head Somalia on 10 October by members of the transitional federal parliament sitting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. He named Gedi as interim prime minister, an appointment that marked the culmination of a two-year reconciliation conference sponsored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development that brought together representatives from various clans and factions. Somalia ceased to function as a modern state in 1991, precipitating a ruinous civil war that saw numerous warring warlords and their militias divide the country into fiefdoms.

Source: IRIN

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