www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-06 22:55:29
NAIROBI, Dec. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The humanitarian situation in war-torn Somalia has become a forgotten crisis which needs intervention by the international community, a top United Nations official said here Monday.
Somalia has been neglected while the crisis in the Western Sudan region of Darfur had drawn much of the world's attention and humanitarian aid, Jan Egeland, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said at a news conference.
"This is one of the most forgotten and neglected places in the world. Darfur is privileged compared to this and too much assistance is being diverted to Darfur compared to Somalia," said Egeland, who just ended a three-day trip in Somalia to raise awareness of the Horn of Africa country's problems.
"It is not good that the whole world rushes to Darfur while neglecting Somalia. There is plenty we can do now. I am here to galvanize support from the international community," Egeland added.
Next year will be "make or break for Somalia," said the UN relief official. "If we fail, Somalia will become a safe haven for extremists and I urge Somali leaders to stop fighting after long period of dictatorship," he added.
Egeland appealed to the donor community to help Somalia and pledged the UN support for the new government.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled, following which the country plunged into anarchy and factional violence.
Since the breakdown of the Somali central government, conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people, plunging the country into anarchy.
Under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which groups Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia, Somali National Reconciliation Conference began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, and was moved to Nairobi in February 2003.
As a result of the conference, Somali Transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was inaugurated on Oct. 14 in Nairobi, and the Somali Prime Minister was appointed on Nov. 3.
The new Somali government is supposed to lead the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million through a five-year transition.
However, analysts here say that the biggest task facing the government is to disarm thousands of gunmen, some loyal to faction leaders opposed to the peace process, others free-lance bandits, and to return security to the devastated nation.
[End Item]