London announces new aid for Somalia, urges other donors to give more for Horn of Africa drought
LONDON (AlertNet) - Somalia's hunger crisis could become as bad as the famine of the early 1990s, in which more than 200,000 people died, unless relief efforts are stepped up, Britain's international development minister said on Wednesday during a visit to the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Andrew Mitchell warned that up to 400,000 children are at risk of death through starvation without immediate action by donors and aid agencies.
"Evidence of malnutrition is not just in the camps and feeding centres but on every street corner," he said in a statement. "The stark fact is that in southern Somalia the situation is deteriorating by the day. We could face deaths on a similar scale to those seen in 1991-2 if we do not act urgently now. This is a race against time."
Several areas in the south and the capital have been classified as in a famine situation, and the United Nations said in early August famine would likely spread across the whole of the south within six weeks, lasting until December at least. Tens of thousands of deaths have already occurred.
Overall, at least 3.7 million Somalis - around half the population - are judged to be suffering an acute food and livelihood crisis, including some 3.2 million who are in extreme need of immediate, lifesaving assistance.
On Wednesday, Britain announced an additional contribution of £25 million ($41.4 million) to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) to provide supplementary food rations, and to carry out immunisations and malaria prevention. It will also provide £4 million ($6.6 million) to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to help protect 2.1 million livestock weakened by drought.
London has so far allocated £119 million ($197 million) for the humanitarian response to the drought that has left nearly 12.5 million people in need of aid across large parts of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, including £54 million for Somalia. The situation there has been complicated by the country's long-running conflict.
In a news release, Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) said it has been lobbying other donor governments to put up more money urgently. Relief agencies need nearly $2.5 billion for their work across the Horn of Africa, of which just over half has been raised, it noted.
In the last two weeks, more than £110 million ($182 million) has been pledged by other nations, according to British estimates.
"Other countries must also maintain and increase their support at this crucial stage. Or we risk seeing a whole generation of people decimated by starvation and disease - and further instability across the region," said Mitchell, the first British minister to visit Mogadishu in more than 18 years.
He also called for better security and more access for humanitarian workers, some of whom have been barred from working in regions controlled by a hardline Islamist rebel group.
STOLEN AID REPORT
Al-Shabaab, which recently retreated from the capital, had said it would allow aid agencies it had earlier prohibited back into its territory to help drought-communities, but then appeared to change its mind.
On Wednesday, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) - which is feeding around 1.5 million Somalis a month - told AlertNet it had gained access to a small number of areas in the south but still cannot reach "many, many people".
Besides a lack of access, the U.N's food aid agency has had to deal with allegations this week that food aid is being diverted and sold in Mogadishu.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that "vast piles of food sacks" are for sale in markets, stamped with the logos of WFP, the U.S. government aid agency USAID and the Japanese government. AP said it had discovered eight sites where food, including corn, grain and a fortified peanut butter for children - is being sold in bulk, as well as many smaller stores.
One official told the news agency he believes perhaps up to half of aid deliveries are being siphoned off by unscrupulous businessmen.
WFP has rejected this, however, telling AlertNet it is "implausible" that 50 percent of the 5,000 tonnes of aid it is bringing into Mogadishu each month could be stolen. Nonetheless, the agency takes all allegations "extremely seriously" and will review the available evidence, spokeswoman Emilia Casella said.
"We are deeply concerned at the possibility that some individuals may be exploiting humanitarian aid to profit at the expense of hungry children," she said.
Based on information and images in the public domain, WFP estimates that the amount of food aid on sale is "barely 1 percent" of the total being transported into the Somali capital, she added. But it has put in place as stringent controls "as it can" to monitor the movement of food aid in Somalia, since a 2010 U.N. report said contractors were diverting supplies.
The agency has not carried out a general food distribution since Aug. 5, when troops and local residents looted truckloads of aid being handed out to thousands of Somali refugees by a local group, killing at least 10 people, Casella said. Instead, food is being provided at feeding centres and health facilities.
"Somalia is one of the most risky environments for a any humanitarian agency to work," she said. "We are aware that there are risks involved, and so are our donors."
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