1. All parties in Somalia should join efforts to respond to Somali people’s needs. Parts of southern Somalia are currently facing famine. Somalia has not experienced famine since 1993. The combination of drought, increasing food prices and conflict are the main factors responsible for the famine. Malnutrition rates are as high as 50 per cent in parts of southern Somalia and tens of thousands of people have already died of malnutrition in the last few months. If we are not able to intervene immediately, tens of thousands more Somalis may die.
2. The crisis in Somalia will have an increasingly devastating effect on other countries in the region. In the Horn of Africa there are currently 11.5 million people in crisis, including the 3.7 million in Somalia. The number is increasing on a daily basis, with thousands of Somalis fleeing to Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti every day. Already over 78,000 Somalis have fled from southern Somalia in search of food and livelihoods in the last two months (61,000 in June alone). Somalia, the epicentre of the regional crisis, could further affect the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa region, if humanitarian relief aid does not reach people in southern Somalia immediately.
3. We need donor support to address current needs and prevent a further deterioration of the crisis. Humanitarian agencies need urgent funding to save lives of Somalis affected by the famine in southern regions. Lack of funds for food, nutrition and livelihood interventions is particularly concerning. If funding is not made available for humanitarian interventions now, the famine is likely to continue and spread. Roughly US$300 million is needed in the next two months to upscale response in famine affected areas.
4. We call on all parties, from the donor community to the local authorities in Somalia, to lift restrictions on humanitarian grounds. The humanitarian community is doing its best to address the food crisis, but much more could be done if the current restrictions to the delivery of aid are lifted and unrestricted cross-border passage of relief aid is granted.
Johnnie Carson wants to politicize that combination of factors in Tuesday's DOS special briefing on the situation in the HOA
ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: An especially complex and difficult component of the Horn of Africa’s humanitarian crisis is the high number of Somali refugees flowing into both Ethiopia and Kenya. This is a result of three overlapping and intersecting problems. The first is the extreme climate-induced drought that has prevailed intensely for the past two years and cyclically for more than 50 years. The second is the absence of a functioning central government in Somalia for over two decades. And the third is the presence of the anti-Western terrorist organization Al-Shabaab in south central Somalia. Al-Shabaab’s activities have clearly made the current situation much worse. In January 2010, Al-Shabaab prohibited international humanitarian workers and organizations from operating in their areas of control. And its continued refusal to grant humanitarian access has prevented the international community from responding to and mitigating some of the cumulative and most disastrous consequences of the drought in south central Somalia.
We have seen the recent reports that Al-Shabaab claims that it will finally allow international humanitarian aid into areas under its control. We are consulting with international organizations that have worked in these areas to verify if there has been any real change in Al-Shabaab’s policies that would allow us and others to operate freely and without taxation imposed for humanitarian deliveries. Al-Shabaab’s current policies are wreaking havoc and are not helping Somalis living in the south central part of that country.
...
QUESTION: I have one other question following up either for you, Ms. Lindborg, or for Johnnie Carson about whether U.S. sanctions on Al-Shabaab are complicating. I know you talk about the complications coming from the Al-Shabaab and the insecurity, but are U.S. sanctions preventing USAID agencies in going in?
...
ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: In response to the second question, U.S. sanctions are not the issue or the problem. The issue and the problem is Al-Shabaab. International organizations such as CARE, Save the Children, UNICEF, the WFP, don’t have sanctions. But it is those organizations that have been equally denied an opportunity to operate in south central Somalia. We call on all of those in south central Somalia who have it within their authority to allow refugee groups and organizations to operate there to do so. But the issue is Al-Shabaab. It’s not sanctions. Organizations do not – such as the ones I just mentioned – don’t have sanctions, but they’ve also been barred.
...
QUESTION: ..one question ... to Mr. Carson. You know Somalia – in 1992, there was a similar situation and the international community, including the United States, responded in a bigger way. What’s the next plan, apart from sending some donations to Somalia? Is there any other plan from the U.S. Government toward Somalia? Is there any (inaudible) you are going to provide Somalia?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: Let me say that the Horn of Africa has faced over the years a number of cyclical droughts. And indeed, back in the late 1980s, we saw another major drought situation occur. After that, I think my colleagues have pointed out that the FEWS NET program was established to be able to monitor and to warn about droughts. We also started working with various governments to improve their ability to adjust to extreme climatic conditions, to change crops, to be able to store and protect more food and to do a number of other things. The United States over the last decade has been one of the largest and continues to be one of the largest suppliers of humanitarian support and assistance to the region. We continue to work with governments throughout the region, and we hope that our Feed the Future program will contribute to better protection of people against droughts in the future.
...
QUESTION: Another question for Assistant Secretary Carson. George Zornick from The Nation magazine. Last week our magazine reported on the existence of a CIA-run prison in Mogadishu. Is this something that you or the State Department was aware of, the existence of this prison?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: I will not comment on any issues related to the CIA or to intelligence matters.
Inner City Press:
As the UN declared a state of famine in two states of Somalia, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia told the Press that in the past two years the United States fell from being the number one donor to Somalia to seventh or eighth place.
...
Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice about Bowden's aid rankings later Wednesday morning, as transcribed by the US Mission to the UN:
Inner City Press: Mark Bowden, the humanitarian coordinator of the UN, just gave a press conference and he said that the U.S., two years ago, was the number one donor to Somalia and has now fallen to seventh or eighth-pretty much tied to anti-terrorism restrictions on where the funds can go. I know you gave the Horn of Africa number but is he correct about this?
Ambassador Rice: I can't tell you if he's correct. I can tell you that the United States remains the largest bilateral donor to the crisis in the Horn and the epicenter of the crisis in the Horn is, of course, Somalia. We have provided support and will continue to provide support to the refugees that have reached Ethiopia and Kenya among others, but our support has gone to Somalia as well and will continue to do so. The challenge has been access for the humanitarian agencies, particularly in the south and the central region, and it's been blocked deliberately as a matter of policy by al-Shabaab. And al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation by preventing its own people from being able to access critically needed assistance.
Global National:
Global National’s Peter Harris sat down to talk with Joe Belliveau of Medecins Sans Frontieres to talk about how serious the situation is and whether there is any hope for relief.-- -- --
...
How has the political situation in the country been impacting your work, particularly when it comes to interacting with Al-Shabaab?
We’ve been running programs in Somalia for the last two decades and currently we run nine, large scale medical, nutritional programs, seven of which are in Al-Shabaab run territories. For the last several years working in Al-Shabaab territories has been a particular challenge. We have managed to maintain all of our programs so far and I think that in itself is a testament to a certain amount of acceptance on the part of Al-Shabaab for what we do. We also know on the ground with our dealings with them that they appreciate and value the services we provide, so in that sense things have been positive.
But the restrictions that we face have caused us to limit what we can do. The restrictions I’m talking about are for international staff, so technical support staff, logistical support staff, people who can come in and work with our Somali staff and give them a real boost. I am also talking about restrictions on flights and that is a problem because it is very difficult for us to resupply our programs with medical and nutritional supplies.
...
We could do more if we have permission to bring in flights and medical staff. If we could do those two things we could give a boost to our current needs and current programs. And we could scale up hopefully to the level necessary to relieve the current crisis.
...
What needs to happen for things to improve in Somalia?
I don’t think it is going to improve anytime soon. I think what is needed is a huge scale up in northern Kenya and Ethiopia where the refugee camps are and there is recent indications that Kenya and Ethiopia are going to open up space for other organizations to come in and for MSF to scale up what we are doing in those camps. And that’s very welcome.
Inside Somalia the situation is similar in that we need more space and permission but we are facing a very different scenario in working with Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab has indicated two weeks ago that they would welcome international support for this humanitarian crisis and would welcome a scaling up. So far we haven’t see that work out in practice.
Do you think the UN declaration of famine will help the situation?
It is not going to help immediately on the ground in Somalia. I think over time it will put attention on Somalia and that could lead to increased action on the ground, but again the issue in Somalia is getting permission from those in power, particularly Al-Shabaab at the moment to go into new places and scale up in new place. If we can bring in staff and cargo flights that are currently banned tat would make a difference.
Shabelle Media: Somali govt soldiers clash at the presidency in Mogadishu
Somalia government forces on Tuesday morning clashed at Mogadishu’s Villa Somalia, where at least two soldiers were killed and several others injured.
A government military officer was among those killed in the brief armed confrontation, according to witnesses.
Some of the soldiers who have been involved in the clash were from Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed while the others were loyal to parliament speaker Sharif Hassab Sheikh Adam.
The clash flared up shortly after two soldiers disputed, witnesses said...
HOL: Somali President, Speaker’s Guards’ Clash Wounding Three
Eye witnesses told Hiiraan Online (HOL) that gunfire erupted early in the morning when an escort brigade belonging to the parliamentary speaker attempted to enter Villa Somalia, the headquarters of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) in the restive capital Mogadishu.
“One of the speaker’s guards attempted to enter the headquarters of the government, but he was turned down by presidential escorts. He later came back with reinforcement and fighting started after long confrontations” one witness told us
HOL learnt that a senior official of the presidential security team identified as Mohamed Arab was one of three injured soldiers.
The three are reportedly admitted into Mogadishu’s hospitals for further treatment as HOL correspondent in Mogadishu says that there was no official communication from the government.
Sources hinted that an anticipated press conference by Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was delayed after the embarrassing incident...
RBC: Senior presidential officer killed in gunfire
At least senior officer of Somalia’s presidential palace of Villa Somalia was killed while two others were wounded in a heavy shootinge at villa’s front gate on Tuesday.
The guards of presidential palace clashed with guards of speaker of the parliament, which resulted the death of senior officer and two others wounded, presidential officer told RBC Radio.
The fire exchange begun shortly after presidential guards manning the front gate of the palace pushed back one of the speaker’s security details armed with pistol.
“It was bad accident. Unfortunately one of our officers was killed.” An officer of the Presidential guards told RBC Radio adding that guard members who broke out the fire exchanged were taken into custody.
The accident broke out just as the president and the prime minister were holding closed door meeting in the president’s office of the Villa amid tough consultations on the upcoming of long awaited cabinet.
Calm has now returned to the Villa as African Union forces, mainly from Ugandan contingent took control of the entire area for security tightening.
Somalia Report: Infighting Between Guards Kills Three
At least three soldiers, including a senior commander of the presidential guard, have been killed in a gun battle between guards and forces loyal to the parliamentary speaker inside the presidential palace.
Witnesses say that Ibrahim Bulle, a soldier loyal to Aden, attempted to force his way into a room where Abdiweli, who has reportedly threatened to resign over the cabinet impasse, was meeting Sheikh Sharif. When the presidential guard stopped him, he pulled out a pistol and opened fire. Colonel Mohamed Arab, a senior commander of the presidential guard, was shot in the head and died on the way to hospital. At least two other soldiers were killed, and one injured, in the fighting.
-- -- --
CNN:
"President Obama and Secretary Clinton have aggressively worked to and asked us to test Al-Shabaab [sic]," said Dr. Rajiv Shah, chief administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in an interview from the Dadaab refugee camp.
"If they're going to provide humanitarian access, we're going to stand with the United Nations and other partners to make sure that humanitarian organizations can get in and can reach the most affected people. It's no coincidence that the precise geography that have been labeled a famine and have met the technical designation of famine are precisely those areas where Shabaab has limited access, has harassed aid workers and has made it difficult for people to eke out a basic standard of living and existence."
Shabelle Media: Al shabaab says formerly banned agencies can’t work in its stronghold
The spokesman of Al shabaab, Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage on Thursday disclosed that the previously banned aid agencies won’t be allowed to operate in the regions they control where severe drought ravages both people and domestic animals.
The spokesman accused those agencies of having hidden political agendas and being spies.
He said his group called for relief organizations which were working previously in parts of the county to help drought hit Somalis in the areas under its control.
Talking about the most recent UN report that two Al shabaab controlled regions hit by famine, Rage denied there is famine in Somalia, describing the declaration of the UN as political related issue.
AFP:
"Those earlier banned groups are not welcome to serve in our area of control," Al Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in a broadcast on the Islamist Al Furqaan radio.
"There is drought in Somalia but not famine - what is declared by the UN is 100 per cent false.
"The declaration of famine is political and is a lie with hidden agendas," he added...
Reuters:
"We say (the U.N. declaration) is totally, 100 percent wrong and baseless propaganda. Yes there is drought but the conditions are not as bad as they say," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told a media briefing.
"They have another objective and it wouldn't surprise us if they were politicizing the situation."
RBC:
“UN is exaggerating the droughts in Somalia. They say famine exists here, it is lie, it is false”. Sheikh Ali Dhere said in a press conference in Mogadishu on Thursday afternoon.
“The report was written by unaware individuals and is politically motivated”.
...
“The order will not be included those were banned already”. He said.
Sheikh Ali Dhere blamed many of the foreign relief agencies were conduction intelligence work in Somalia as he said Al-Shabab will not grant them permission to come into the country.
“Some of the so-called aid agencies were spies and others were harming our people. Those will not come here”. Sheikh Ali Dhere added.
Somalia Report
on Thursday [Rage] caused confusion by telling a local radio station that the previous bans from 2009 and 2010 were still in effect. He also challenged the recent declaration of famine. "We say is totally [sic], 100% wrong and baseless propaganda. Yes there is drought, but the conditions are not as bad as they say. They have another objective and it wouldn't surprise us if they were politicizing the situation."
...
To clarify their position, Somalia Report again contacted Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage who provided us with a list of NGOs and groups they have officially banned.
LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS BANNED BY AL SHABAAB:
1. Mercy Corps
2. European Fusion Education Network (Fusenet)
3. Horn Relief
4. UNDSS United Nations Department of Safety and Security
5. UNDP United Nations Development Program
6. UNPOS United Nations Political Office
7. WFP United Nations World Food Program
8. United Nations Mine Action
9. ACF Action against Hunger
10. World Vision
11. ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Agency
12. Diakonia (Christian development organization)
13. Care International
14. INC (no listing)
15. COOPI Cooperazione Internazionale
16. IFRC Somali Red Crescent Society
17. Agrosphere
18. IMC International Medical Corps 19. Mercy-USA
20. USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network
21. DRC described by al Shabaab as a "local NGO" (may mean DRC or Danish Refugee Council)
22. Juba Shine (a local NGO and part of the WASH network)
UN News Service:
While many countries worldwide face food security crises, with large numbers of people hungry and unable to find enough food, only rarely do the conditions meet the humanitarian community’s formal criteria for a famine.
...
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
Other factors considered in these areas of Somalia include large-scale displacement, widespread destitution, disease outbreaks and social collapse.
The definition has been developed through the work of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which includes specialists from humanitarian agencies, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), as well as leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Government aid agencies.
The gathering of data to determine whether the criteria are met is in this case in the hands of the UN-backed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit-Somalia (FSNAU), which is administered by FAO. FSNAU then passes the information to the UN, aid agencies and the United States Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).
The declaration of a famine carries no binding obligations on the UN or Member States, but serves to focus global attention on the problem.
FSNAU:
Evidence of severely reduced food access, acute malnutrition, and crude mortality indicates that a famine is currently ongoing in two areas of southern Somalia: the Bakool agropastoral livelihood zones and all areas of Lower Shabelle. This crisis represents the most serious food insecurity situation in the world today, in terms of both scale and severity. Current humanitarian response is inadequate to meet emergency needs. Assuming current levels of response, evidence suggests that famine across all regions of the south will occur in the coming 1-2 months. A massive multisectoral response is critical to prevent additional deaths and total livelihood/social collapse and most immediately, interventions to improve food access and to address health/nutrition issues are needed.
The current crisis in southern Somalia is driven by a combination of factors:-
The total failure of the October-December Deyr rains (secondary season) and the poor performance of the April-June Gu rains (primary season) have resulted in crop failure, reduced labor demand, poor livestock body conditions, and excess animal mortality
Local cereal prices across the south are far above average, more than 2 to 3 times 2010 prices in some areas, and continue to rise. As a result, both livestock to cereal and wage to cereal terms of trade have deteriorated substantially. Across all livelihoods, poor households (~30 percent of the population) are unable to meet basic food needs and have limited ability to cope with these food deficits
During July, FSNAU conducted 17 representative nutrition and mortality surveys across southern Somalia; results are available for 11 surveys. The prevalence of acute malnutrition exceeds 20 percent in all areas and is higher than 38 percent (with severe acute malnutrition higher than 14 percent) in 9 of the 11 survey areas. The highest recorded levels of acute malnutrition are in Bay, Bakool, and Gedo (agropastoral) where the GAM prevalence exceeds 50 percent. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has verified these findings
Population-wide death rates are above the famine threshold (2/10,000/day) in two areas (Bakool agropastoral, and all areas of Lower Shabelle) and are elevated across the south. Under-5 death rates are higher than 4/10,000/day in all areas of the south where data is available, peaking at 13-20/10,000/day in riverine and agropastoral areas of Lower Shabelle. Tens of thousands of people have died in the past three months.
FAO:
About 80 percent of Somalia’s population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, the sector is severely restricted by recurrent drought and floods, civil insecurity and massive population displacement.
Pastoralists have struggled to cope with decreased rainfall, deteriorating water and pasture conditions, high commodity prices and poor terms of trade for livestock. Unusual livestock movements have been recorded in some area as pastoralists move their animals in search of pasture and water. Livestock body condition has deteriorated and mortality rates have risen, leading to reduced productivity.
Between October 2010 and January 2011, Somalia witnessed sharp increases in the prices of domestically produced cereals, with rises of up to 300 percent recorded in some areas compared with the same month in 2010. The January 2011 harvest failed throughout the agricultural regions in the south, and the outlook for the next harvest expected in August 2011 is not much better.
FAO:
Currently, about 3.7 million people, more than a third of the country’s population, are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance. Most of them are pastoral and agro-pastoral households in central and southern areas whose food security conditions have precipitously deteriorated since the poor outturn of the secondary 2010 “deyr” season harvested in March. Unless immediate large scale humanitarian interventions are forthcoming, food security conditions of drought-affected households are expected to further deteriorate until the onset of “deyr” short rainy season in October 2011 and other areas, especially in the south, are likely to fall soon into famine status.
...
Civil insecurity and armed conflicts continue to represent the major serious threat to food security in most areas of southern and central Somalia, particularly in Mogadishu, parts of Bakool, Juba, Hiran, Mudug, Galgadud, Lower Juba and Gedo regions. This situation has resulted in loss of human lives, increased displacements of civilians, disruption of trade activities and increased transportation costs, while presenting an obstacle to the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
...
Since last quarter of 2010, prices of domestically produced staple cereal crops have started to rise as a consequence of the depletion of local stocks and the uncertain prospects over the production of the 2011 main “gu” season. In June 2011, prices of sorghum and maize reached record levels in most markets of the country. From January to June 2011, maize prices have risen by 130 percent in Marka market, which is the main maize producing southern region of Lower Shabelle, while sorghum prices increased by 63 percent in Baidoa market, Bay region, located in the Sorghum Belt. In the capital city Mogadishu, prices of maize and sorghum increased over the same period by 96 and 80 percent, respectively. The temporary closure of the main wholesale market in Mogadishu for security reasons from the last week of February to April has also contributed to the escalation of prices.
Prices of imported rice increased during June in most markets, and were between 8 to 13 percent higher than in the previous year, mainly due to high fuel and transport costs reflecting higher international prices and the depreciation of the Somali Shilling against the US Dollar.
ICRC:
The severe drought, with below average rainfall in most parts of southern and central Somalia since the last deyr rainy season (from September to November 2010), has hit a population already exhausted by years of armed conflict, previous dry spells and economic crises.
Hundreds of thousands of people displaced within Somalia are searching for shelter and food. The majority live in the open or in makeshift camps. They represent a heavy burden for the host communities that share their scarce resources with them. Most of the displaced do not have anything left to sell and are therefore unable to buy food. As a result, malnutrition rates are usually even higher among displaced people than among the general population.
In addition, the absence of international humanitarian organizations, many of which have stopped their activities in southern Somalia since early 2009 because of security constraints and restrictions imposed by local authorities, has added to the hardship.
The ongoing armed conflict, which intensified further with a new offensive at the beginning of the year, mainly in Mogadishu and along the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders, prevents many of the displaced from returning to their home areas. Thousands are crossing the borders every week.
...
Livestock are severely affected by the lack of pasture and water, especially in the southern and central regions. Many animals, especially cattle, have died. Those that survive are not able to reproduce and therefore have no milk. This has a strongly negative impact on the nutrition of children, for whom animal milk is one of the most important sources of protein. Moreover, the surviving animals are not in good condition and therefore fetch very low prices at market. Because pastoralists need grain and have nothing but livestock to trade, low prices for livestock combined with the world food crisis, which has pushed up prices for grain, constitute a double blow for them.
...
Alarming rates of malnutrition are being observed in ICRC-supported outpatient therapeutic feeding programmes in central and southern Somalia. High rates of moderate and severe malnutrition in children under five have been reported in the coastal areas of central Somalia, in the Jubas and in Gedo. Admissions into the outpatient therapeutic feeding programmes run by the Somali Red Crescent Society have doubled since March. In Bay region, 11 per cent of children under the age of five are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition. In Tieglow district, Bakool region, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children treated at the mother and child health-care centres, with the rate of severe acute malnutrition rising from 16 to over 30 per cent between March and April.
...
As a first step in responding to the crisis, the Somali Red Crescent and the ICRC are expanding existing outpatient therapeutic feeding programmes in southern Somalia. Ten new feeding centres will be opened in Bakool, Gedo and the Afgoye corridor. Additional mobile teams made up of nurses and nutritional specialists will visit people in the areas worst affected. Moreover, a new feeding programme supplementing the regular therapeutic feeding is being launched for malnourished children under five and other vulnerable groups, such as pregnant and lactating women. Up to 36,000 people will benefit from these measures.
As soon as possible, the ICRC will complement the feeding programme with targeted food distributions together with the Somali Red Crescent.
AFP:
The International Red Cross said Sunday it had handed out 400 tonnes of food in drought-hit parts of rebel-held southern Somalia as the UN prepares to host emergency talks on the crisis in the region.
"The distribution look place in the Bardera district and passed without incident, with the knowledge of the authorities and the recipients," ICRC spokesman Yves Van Loo told AFP in Nairobi.
It is the first ICRC-led food drop direct to locals in Shebab-controlled zones since 2009, he said, adding that further food drops will take place in the coming days.
MSF:
What characterises this crisis is that people are now leaving their villages and the rural areas en masse because crops have failed and livestock are dying.-- -- --
“Displacement is nothing new to Somalis,” says MSF operations manager Joe Belliveau. “For the past few years, hundreds of thousands have fled the violence in Mogadishu and elsewhere. What is new is that people are now fleeing the rural areas simply because they have no more food to eat.”
Camps for the displaced are appearing inside Somalia wherever people feel they have a better chance of getting help.
In the village of Jilib, in Lower Juba Valley, for example, around 5,000 people have spontaneously settled in a makeshift camp in the hope of receiving support from the local community, the authorities and MSF.
MSF is currently running nine medical-nutritional programmes in South Central Somalia, most of which are in territory controlled by Al Shabab.
Along with MSF’s three large health programmes in refugee camps over the border in Kenya and Ethiopia, the nine programmes in South Central Somalia conduct thousands of medical consultations daily and currently treat over 10,000 severely malnourished children.
Daily Monitor: AU Somalia pullout a long way off, says French General
The Commander of the French forces in Djibouti, Maj. Gen. Thierry Caspar-Fille-Lambie, has said the African Union will have to stay in Somalia for a long time to achieve stability in the country.
Gen. Lambie told journalists at the French ambassador’s residence in Kampala yesterday that the mission lacks both personnel and equipment to flush out al-Shabaab out of Somalia. “We’re only at the beginning. It could take a long, long time,” he said.
He estimates that 20,000 forces are needed to pacify Somalia, a sizable increase on the 12,000 currently deployed.
“The task of soldiers is to secure areas but currently the force is too small to secure vast territories,” said Gen. Lambie.
French forces, working with their UK and US counterparts, have provided training to UPDF forces deployed in Somalia. Eleven thousand forces have now been trained, more than half under Gen. Lambie’s supervision.
In addition, 2,500 Somalis have been trained in Uganda. The mandate for training Somali troops ends in September but negotiations at the European Union are ongoing to train a further 1,000 troops next year.
Gen. Lambie denied allegations of widespread defections of Somali government soldiers to al-Shabaab. He said the priority for the EU forces is now to identify and train Somali leaders. “We can train 2,000 troops a year but what we need are good leaders. This could take a long time,” he said.
Shabelle Media: Somali official admits corruption within the govt
Gen. Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indha Adde, Somali military officer, on Thursday admitted that there is countless corruption in the transitional federal government of Somalia.
Indha Adde noted that he is very pleased with the understanding of the international community that their funds intended to help Somalia were stolen.
He said it is needed the United States and others donors that help the horn of African nation to closely look into the mass corruption committed by top TFG leaders, pointing out that anyone is found guilty of money laundering should be put on trial.
The general also admitted a lot of Somali government soldiers defected with their weapons and military vehicle and joined to the Al shabaab militants which struggles to dethrone Somalia’s internationally recognized government.
“There were some government officials who have been involved in cases of selling the government weapons to rebel groups” Indha Adde said, but declined to specify the names of those individuals in the government.
Shabelle Media: Mogadishu mayor: There is corruption in IDPs Camps
The Mogadishu mayor and the governor of Benadir region on Saturday said there is a huge corruption inside the Internally Displaced People Camps in Mogadishu, particularly when food aid is distributed.
Mohamoud Ahmed Nur, the mayor of Mogadishu made the comments while he was speaking to the local press.
He said the IDPs in government controlled areas in the capital always corrupt the aid they receive.
...
Mayor’s comments come as emerging reports suggested there is massive corruption in aid destined for the drought displaced Somalis who poured into Benadir region.
IRIN: Displaced by drought, hit by rain
Heavy rains have fallen in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, making life harder for thousands of people displaced by drought who cannot find shelter, officials said.-- -- --
"About 10,000 families displaced by the drought from Bay, Bakool, Lower Shabelle, Lower Juba and Upper Juba regions, who have come to Mogadishu, are now in a serious situation," Aden H Ibrahim, Minister for Health in Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), told IRIN. "They are without shelter, food, water, health facilities as well as latrines. These families are in 50 camps in the capital."
...
Most of the drought-displaced who made it to Mogadishu, according to Mohamed Abrone, chairman of Taleh settlement for the displaced, are from four of the eight south-central regions: Bay, Bakool, Lower Juba, Upper and Lower Shabelle. The hardest-hit areas in these regions are the districts and villages of Qansadheere, Xabaal Barbaar, Ufurow, Afgoye Yare, Roobay, Dinsoor, Saakow, Gurabay, Juwerey, Il-Bete, Gaduday, Deemay and El-wareegow.
"Coming from that far distance, some walked all the way from their villages, taking 15 days, while others paid about 500,000 Somali shillings [US$16.66] after losing all their livestock during the two years of consecutive drought," he said.
Not much aid has reached the displaced in Mogadishu. Abdi-Kadir Mohamed Hirabe, deputy director of Al-Ri'aya (Daryeel), a local NGO working with a Kuwaiti NGO, said the group had distributed food to 100 drought-displaced families in the capital.
"We have distributed rice, flour and cooking oil in amounts we think will last them about 20 days," he said.
...
..Fadumo Hassan Ali, the ministry's deputy minister, told IRIN in Mogadishu. "Each of the camps of Hamar-weyne and Kanisada [in the city] hold at least 300 families. The ministry distributed some money to 1,450 families in Mogadishu, each family receiving $5 for five days' meals."
That is still not enough for the drought-affected IDPs.
"We have nothing, our animals were lost," Mohamed Abrone, a father of five, told IRIN at Taleh camp, near Km4. "We came to Mogadishu in search of survival; even though some local people have supported us by giving us food, we remain without shelter, water, latrines or anything else."
Shabelle Media: Somalia’s new cabinet approved by the parliament
The transitional federal parliament of Somalia (TFP) today approved the newly nominated cabinet after meeting in Mogadishu.
Today’s parliament session was chaired by the speaker of the parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adam with the presence of some 420 Somali lawmakers.
...
After that the vote was cast and some 397 lawmakers voted in favor of the new cabinet minister appointed by the premier a day ago.
HOL:
In a sitting attended by some 420 members of the Somali parliament, Dr. Ali’s proposal was ratified by a show of hand where only 21 MPs opposed with only two abstentions recorded.-- -- --
But some MPs were quick to reject the outcome of Saturday’s parliamentary approval citing undemocratic procedure for the house business. Groups of opposition MPs were seen walking out of the house in the mid of the session.
From Michael Weinstein's latest analysis, The Possibility of Balkanization:
During the first three weeks of July, a shift in "donor"-power/U.N. orientation towards Somalia’s conflicts has begun to emerge. The T.F.G. has lost its privileged place in the calculations of the "donor"-powers/U.N., leaving the latter without a Somali political entity through which to exert its influence.
The international coalition has placed its bets on the "Consultative Meeting on the End of the Transition," which it is orchestrating in its latest effort to take over the process by which Somalia is supposed to transition to permanent statehood.
The title, "Consultative Meeting on the End of the Transition," tells the whole story. The international coalition wants the "transition" over and done with by August, 2012. It thinks that it can do this by bringing together the T.F.G., regional states (Puntland), autonomous administrations (Galmudug), and a set of administrations (A.S.W.J.) to create a "roadmap" for a permanent state.
...
It is a direct attempt by the international coalition to take over the transitional process and – it bears repetition – to end it. The international coalition does not have, from its point of view, the time or resources to engage in "nation building" (it never did, but it played at it) in Somalia. Its members do not even have a favored solution. They just want a "government" they can make deals with and that will cooperate in anti-terrorism. Somali interests are not involved at all in their calculations. They have their own fiscal crisis to worry about. They are trying (U.S. most of all) to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. They want to get out of transitional Somalia and into anti-terrorist Somalia.
...
..the general tendency in the West is expressed in a policy towards transition to legal statehood of "take over and get it over with."
Right now, there is mostly a sentiment of frustrated impatience – an irritation with Somalia that is becoming a dominant sentiment. Policy has not changed yet, although it is shifting. The West is still thinking in terms of "Somalia;" indeed it is expressing big ideas for it – its "consultative meeting."The great break would increase in probability if –as is likely – the "donor"-powers/U.N. fail and there is nowhere to go but an effectively Balkanized policy, whatever legal cover that practice might be given. It appears that the international coalition has cut itself loose from its anchor in the T.F.G. It is putting itself in the position in which it will either have to impose a government on "Somalia" or give up on a government for "Somalia."
The expedient concerns of the West might force Balkanization on Somalia, for better or worse.
Nice Article
ReplyDelete