Somalia to Get More Peacekeeping Troops
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to send additional peacekeeping troops to Somalia during their annual meeting at its headquarters in New York on Friday. Security Council resolution 2010 raised the number of troops for the African Union Mission in Somalia from about 9,300 to 12,000. It also extended its mandate in Somalia until next year. The council has also called on Somalia's transitional government to carry out a roadmap leading to elections within a year. The new troops will likely come from Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Elmi Ahmed Duale, said peacekeepers were urgently needed across his country. Elmi Ahmed Duale said, "Mr. President, as most of the members of the Security Council are aware of, the Somali security forces are overextended at present and they are contained only in Mogadishu and that it is of utmost urgency to enlarge and improve the capabilities of the Somali armed forces and police. Furthermore, as also stated by His Excellency, the Secretary-General, in order to consolidate and build on the recent security gains, it is essential to also enlarge the AMISOM forces. There has been positive reference to this in this resolution." In addition to security issues, Somalia is currently in the throes of a devastating drought and famine. Speaker: Elmi Ahmed Duale By: Ikram Al Yacoub Al Arabiya With Agencies
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On August 13, Turkey's Islamic charity foundation IHH organized aid for victims of famine and drought in Somalia. Preparations were under way to send three tons of food to Somalia. IHH officials loaded food supplies into the ship as organization chairman Bulent Yildirim will be sending another ship in the coming days. Bulent Yildirim said, "We will dispatch another ship loaded with four tonnes of humanitarian aid this week. During the campaign we are aiming to send aid worth 50 billion Turkish Liras (28 billion USD) to Somalia." 3.7 million Somalis are suffering from severe famine after drought affected some 11.6 million people across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. The Turkish government has already dispatched two cargo planes loaded with 50 tons of food and medical supplies earlier this week and the Turkish Red Crescent is working with the government's development agency and Office of Religious Affairs to raise donations from the public. Turkish officials were carrying out preparations for a meeting of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference on August 17, 2011 in Istanbul. The drought, the worst in decades, has affected about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa. Famine conditions were expected to persist until the end of the year as drought, conflict and a lack of food aid have left 3.6 million people at risk of starvation in southern Somalia. Speaker: Bulent Yildirim, Turkey's Islamic charity foundationIHH chairman. Voice: Najib Bencherif By: Ikram Al Yacoub Al Arabiya With Agencies
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Global leaders held a mini-summit on the political future of Somalia at the United Nations headquarters on Friday. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said, "For the first time since the Djibouti Peace Agreement of 2008, there is a significantly more inclusive political process and a consensus of how to end the transition. It is time now for the Transitional Federal Institutions and Somalia's leaders to implement the roadmap to end the transition, keeping in mind that future assistance will be contingent on the timely attainment of the agreed benchmarks," Al Shabaab fighters retreated from Mogadishu after four years of battling government forces and foreign peacekeepers. The insurgent's retreat from the capital effectively handed full control of the city to the government for the first time since civil war broke out in 1991. Jean Ping, the Chairman African Union, called on the international community to continue its support of Somalia. But United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a stern warning to the summit. Clinton said it is time for the Somalis to take control. She said, "Time may be running out. If we don't do this right now, given the fact that the African Union Mission for Somalia has been successful in opening up the space in Mogadishu. If Somali leaders do not follow the roadmap that has been negotiated by Africans for Africans, then I don't know that the international community will be here next year and the year after with support. It is now up to Somalis," The U.N. will host a high-level meeting on its humanitarian response to the famine in Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa on Saturday. Speakers: U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon The Chairman African Union, Jean Ping United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton By: Ikram Al Yacoub Al Arabiya With Agencies
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Displaced Camps Flooded in Mogadishu
At a time when Somalia is struggling the drain of scarcity and famine, a flood leaves Somalia's breadbasket underwater, destroying their makeshift shelters, creating the conditions for an extended famine and taking the area's misery to a whole new level. As rain reached the camp in Mogadishu on July 31, old women and children struggled to repair their shelters which could not withhold the downpour. Internally displaced people described their situation as a desperate one, and had nothing to shield them from the harsh weather conditions. Thousands of IDPs, who were previously living in destroyed buildings in the Somali capital, have now been moved to camps outside the city. The U.N has declared famine in two cities of southern Somalia, and has said that 3.7 million people are at risk of starvation. An ongoing scarcity in East Africa is the worst to strike the region in six decades. Humanitarian crisis continues in Somalia caused by military conflict and years of famine. More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa now need assistance to survive the crisis caused by the floods. By: Ikram Al Yacoub Al Arabiya With Agencies
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Somalia: Famine is Nearly Catastrophic
Islamist rebels in Somalia who control parts of the country where famine was stated this week have said aid agencies they expelled from those areas last year are not allowed to return. Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants imposed a ban on food aid in 2010, which the U.N. and Washington say has worsened the condition. The U.N. World Food Programme was among several groups forced out of rebel areas which are now preparing to return, describing the situation in Somalia as increasingly desperate, in a news conference in Geneva on July 22nd. WFP spokesperson Emilia Casella said,"The situation is extremely dire. We're convinced that it is a lifesaving mission that we are obligated to undertake and therefore as soon as we receive the assurances that we will have security and the proper conditions of access we will be going back, and in fact we're already making those plans together with our partners." Al Shabaab had promised to allow relief agencies with "no hidden agendas" greater access to their lands. The UN told reporters said it had a "moral imperative" to get back into the areas from which it had been forced out. Melissa Fleming, UN commission for refugees chief spokesperson said, "We are really trying our best to work inside Somalia so that people don't have to make this devastating, life threatening trek into Kenya and Ethiopia. If we could aid the victims on the spot, prevent them from leaving their villages, we would not be in this terrible situation we are seeing now. "Many of the refugees are arriving in very bad shape, we're saying its close to catastrophic, our nutrition experts are calling it a dire nutritional emergency." Al Shabaab accused the United Nations on July 21 in exaggerating the severity of the situation in the southern side of the country for political purposes. Speakers: Melissa Fleming, UN commission for refugees chief spokesperson Emilia Casella, WFP spokesperson By: Ikram Al Yacoub Al Arabiya With Agencies
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