Improved water supplies

afrol News, 8 June 2004

Currently, only one in five Somalis has access to clean and safe water within a short distance. Humanitarian organisations are now aiding vulnerable Somalis to improve clean water supplies in the drought-prone country.

The Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, based in the United Arab Emirates, has forged an agreement with the UN development agency (UNDP) in Somalia to provide US$ 2 million to improve water supplies for vulnerable Somalis.

- The effort will help returning refugees, people displaced from their homes, pastoral communities in drought-stricken regions and poorer populations in southern Somalia, UNDP said today. "It will also help set up sustainable water management systems based on the capacities of local communities to build and maintain them, and where feasible through public-private partnerships," the UN agency added.

Only one in five Somalis has access to treated water, and only about half the households have a source of water within a kilometre during the dry season, according to a recent socio-economic survey by the World Bank and UNDP.

The signing of this agreement comes as a directive from Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates, to help alleviate the plight of the Somali people by addressing their dire need for water, noted Salem Obaid Al Dhahiri, the foundation's Acting Director General.

This is the first project the Zayed Foundation has approved from among those proposed within the context of a memorandum of understanding between UNDP and the foundation of last September. "We need to move fast to meet the urgent need for water by the Somali communities," commented UNDP Country Director El Balla Hagona.

The project was said to "help improve coordination among local civil society groups and the private and public sectors, and increase participation of local communities, which will further enhance their sense of ownership," he noted. "This will promote progress towards the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015."

The agreement comes less than five months after UNDP made initial contact with the foundation and demonstrates the effectiveness of the partnership, Mr Hagona said. "Further, we appreciate the assistance of the UNDP United Arab Emirates office for facilitating this successful initiative."

The UNDP programme that provides basic social services for returnees and the communities to which they return will carry the project, according to the UN agency. The programme also works "to enlarge economic opportunities and policy making and governance at the local level."

The humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates comes only days after a major diplomatic row between the Arab country and Somali transitional authorities. According to 'Awdal News Network', the Emirates last week expelled the Somali consul there, who was accused of issuing Somali passport to people wanted by local police.

The United Arab Emirates only recently had announced it would no longer accept Somali passports as valid travel documents. This decision was made as the Emirates could not determine any legal authority issuing these passports and after several passport fraud cases.

By staff writer
© afrol News