UN: World must prevent war in Somalia

The top UN official for Somalia today called on the world to do everything possible to prevent war in Somalia and help 1.8 million people there in dire need of help.

Eric Laroche, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, asked international donors meeting in Nairobi to provide €178.6m for aid projects, but he said the most urgent need was for diplomats to prevent war in a country already devastated by a major drought followed by severe flooding.

“Since the 1990s, we have never been so close to war and this has the possible impact of spreading all across the Horn of Africa,” Laroche said. “If the war starts tomorrow, there will be no more international community to help these people.”

Leaders from both sides in Somalia, its government and an increasingly powerful Islamic movement, say war is imminent, but Laroche said there was still a chance to prevent fighting and to provide assistance.

For two years Somalia’s transitional government has failed to assert itself outside the central town of Baidoa.

The Council of Islamic Courts emerged in March and has taken control of most of southern and central Somalia and has enforced Islamic law. Two rounds of talks designed to form a coalition government have failed.

Cindy Holleman, technical manager of the Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia, said most Somalis have not recovered from a drought in 2005 and early 2006, which wiped out millions of cattle, goats and sheep in addition to destroying most of the nation’s crops.

She said the bulk of the needy are in south and central Somalia, exactly where the government and Islamic courts are facing off.

“If we do have widespread conflict, the implications on livelihoods is going to be dramatic,” she said, saying more than three million people could be affected, based on rough estimates.

She said crops planted during the current rainy season have been lost, meaning that four consecutive growing seasons have mostly failed. The next potential harvest will not be until April 2007, she added.

The current insecurity in Somalia has kept most aid workers and supplies in northern parts of the Somalia, which remain relatively stable, making any kind of disaster response difficult, Laroche said.

“We are not where we should be,” he said. “The environment really is not very good, but that should not prevent us from doing our work.”