Aid group warns of increased warlord power

A British non-governmental organisation has called on the British government to pressurise the US to lift the economic and military threat hanging over the Somali people.

In a press release, ActionAid noted that the US freeze on the assets of Al-Barakaat - the main banking and telecommunications system in the region - had severed financial aid to many Somali families who rely on remittances from relatives abroad. The organisation also condemned proposals for US-led military intervention in Somalia.

"Targeting Somalia because it is alleged that some unnamed individuals may support al-Qaida [terrorist network] is not going to resolve the wider issue of terrorism," said Robin Le Mare, ActionAid's policy officer for Somalia. "The US 1992 'Operation Restore Hope' effectively strengthened the positions of warlords in southern Somalia and further entrenched the clan-based system of self-governing territories. That action was a fiasco and this is no time to attempt anything similar."

ActionAid warned that such actions would only strengthen the position of those in Somalia "who claim legitimacy through military might". The call by ActionAid comes at a time when the Somali people are already reeling from the effects of two years of drought, and a ban on livestock sales to Arab states because of the cattle disease, Rift Valley fever.

Earlier this month, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Randolph Kent, warned that the country was on the verge of an economic collapse "unparalleled in modern history". He said Somalia was standing "on the threshold of ruin". A leading Somali economist told IRIN that people were angry. In addition to the "devastating impact" of the al-Barakaat closure and rising prices of staple foods, people did not understand why the US was pursuing such a policy towards Somalia. "For years the world forgot about Somalia, but now it is paying attention again, it is entirely in a negative light," the economist said.