NAIROBI (AlertNet) Â? Aid agencies working to alleviate Somalia's humanitarian crisis have called on donors to plug a shortfall in funds for life-saving relief as a major U.N. conference on the war-torn country gets underway.
The Istanbul Conference on Somalia, which takes place from May 21-23 and is convened by the United Nations and the governments of Somalia and Turkey, will address threats to security and stability in the Horn of Africa nation.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is due to address the summit, which will also explore ways to combat rampant sea piracy off the Somali coast.
"We understand there is donor fatigue but we request donors to remain engaged with Somalia," said Bruno Geddo, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) in the violent, lawless country.
Geddo told AlertNet contributions cover only 20 percent of the 2010 appeal by U.N. and other aid agencies for $690 million to help hundreds of thousands of Somalis affected by seemingly endless fighting between rebel groups and the Somali Transitional Federal Government.
"This is very little compared to the level of needs on the ground, and we need to find solutions that make sure the people who need aid get it," said Geddo.
On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Somalia is the world's most worrying humanitarian crisis both because of the scale of need and the limited scope for relief due to insecurity.
Escalating violence in southern and central Somalia has forced around 200,000 Somalis to leave their homes this year alone, according to UNHCR.
The agency and its partners are struggling to protect and assist some 550,000 Somalia refugees and 1.4 million internally displaced people in Somalia and its neighbouring countries.
U.S. RELUCTANCE
Previous appeals have failed to raise the amounts required partly because the U.S. government has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.
Washington fears the money could end up in the hands of Somalia's insurgent groups, which it says are a proxy for the al Qaeda network.
A U.N. report said in March that up to half of food aid in Somalia has been diverted to corrupt contractors, local U.N. workers and Islamist militants.
Christian charity, World Vision, which provides relief to half a million children in south-central Somalia said the emergency is likely to worsen without additional funding.
"Somalia is actually a forgotten crisis and with the reduced funding, we are grappling with a situation that could become catastrophic," said Carol Odingo, policy and advocacy manager for World Vision Somalia.
Odingo told AlertNet aid in Somalia has become politicised, and highlighted the need to separate humanitarian issues from politics.
"We have put in place monitoring and evaluation systems to make sure no aid gets diverted," she said.
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