NAIROBI (AlertNet) - The United Nations and one of its biggest aid donors for Somalia, the United States, are nearing a deal that would free up hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the troubled nation, a top U.N. official said on Thursday.
The U.N. launched a consolidated appeal for $690 million to help the huge numbers of Somalis trapped in seemingly endless fighting between rebel groups and the Somali Transitional Federal Government.
But previous appeals like these have failed to raise the amounts needed 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 Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network.
"We are optimistic that we can reach a resolution to this situation, because it is time-bound," Mark Bowden, the head of U.N. OCHA for Somalia, said at a news conference to launch the appeal.
"I think we are coming a lot closer together and there is a certain recommendation in some parts of the U.S. government on the urgency of the situation and the key role the U.S. government plays," said Bowden.
The U.N. says 3.6 million Somalis - half the country's population - are in a desperate situation and will need food and other forms of aid to survive. Since 2007, over 1,900 people have been killed in fighting in Somalia and 1.5 million have been displaced from their homes.
Somalia's two major insurgent groups, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, control parts of the country, including places like Afgooye, where half a million people are crammed into makeshift camps.
The world needs to recognise that Somalia is one of the worst humanitarian emergencies, he added.
CHILDREN AT RISK
Somalia's capital Mogadishu is the worst affected by the fighting. Recurring battles between government and rebel forces for control of the city have forced hundreds of thousands into makeshift camps.
The U.S. military has been providing weapons and training to forces loyal to Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, but the government still only controls a few blocks of the capital, with the rest of the country in the hands of Islamist rebels.
"Because it is a long-running problem, we also emphasise the need to reduce dependence and to maintain livelihoods and assets as a critical part of our strategy," said Bowden.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF, which says it is operating on a shoe-string budget, warned that hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five could be without crucial therapeutic nutrition in a month's time.
"January to March is a critical period for child health in terms of water and sanitation because it coincides with the dry season, so we need the funds now to save lives in the first quarter of 2010," Rozanne Chorlton, the head of UNICEF in Somalia, told journalists
Somalia was the worst hit country by this year's drought in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, exacerbating the country's food crisis, the U.N. said.
Somalia has lacked an effective central government for 18 years. An African Union AMISOM peacekeeping mission in Somalia is slowly being bolstered. It is made up of about 5,200 troops and will eventually increase to 8,000.
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