Off the wire
• EU raises economic growth outlook, but warns of "uncertainty"  • China Focus: Preferential policies show Chinese mainland's goodwill and sincerity, Taiwan experts  • Pakistan summons Indian envoy over cross-border firing  • New Zealand central bank maintains interest rate at 1.75 pct  • Kenyan retailers deny hoarding of food items amid sharp price rise  • New Zealand's biggest education reform in decades passes final reading  • Interview: Italian PM says globalization is not enemy  • Interview: Italy, China 'strike popular imagination', says Italian PM  • Economic Watch: China determined to push capacity-cut drive  • Spanish football body seeks to develop Kenyan soccer  
You are here: 　 Home

Aid agencies say military offensives to affect relief efforts in Somalia

Xinhua, May 11, 2017 Adjust font size:

Aid agencies working in Somalia have expressed concern about reports of upcoming military offensives at a time when the country is facing devastating humanitarian crisis.

Under an umbrella organization, Somalia NGO Consortium, the agencies said the military actions will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in a country which is on the verge of a famine.

"Reports of upcoming military offensives in the country are concerning as past experience shows that military offensives not only make it harder for people to reach but also create more displacement. The verge of a famine is not a good time to start a military offensive," the organization said in a joint statement issued on Thursday.

Consortium director, Abdurahman Sharif also decried the physical safety of the displaced, gender-based violence, recruitment and use of children by armed forced or armed groups, unaccompanied/separated children which are all on the rise, in particular in areas with high concentration of newly displaced such as Baidoa and Mogadishu and eastern parts of Northern Somalia.

"It is imperative that the focus is on humanitarian response and averting famine and that armed conflict is not escalated in the current environment," Sharif said.

The statement comes as the London Conference on Somalia kicked off in Britain on Thursday to seek ways of helping the Horn of Africa overcome its political and economic challenges.

The revised humanitarian response plan to prevent famine in Somalia was presented to international partners at the London Somalia Conference.

The revised plan seeks 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to reach 5.5 million people with life-saving assistance in 2017.

In response to the early alarm that Somalia is at risk of famine, donors have generously provided 672 million dollars since the beginning of the year, leaving a gap of 875 million dollars.

The aid agencies said humanitarian response must be linked with early recovery and longer term resilience initiatives.

"Somalis have been living in a situation of long-term vulnerability to recurring climate related disasters, climate change and environmental degradation, market disruptions and price fluctuations, conflict over resources during times of scarcity and all of this is often exacerbated by conflict," the organizations said.

They called for a need to invest in recovery and resilience and make long term developmental investment that would promote economic growth and livelihoods and reduce the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance over time. Endit