Donors, partners meet to plan for reconstruction

More than 100 representatives from different Somali groups, the UN, the World Bank, aid donors and nongovernmental organisations met in Nairobi last week to plan for the reconstruction and development of Somalia.

The aim of the 23-26 November retreat, which was convened by the World Bank and the UN, was to discuss the objectives, methodology and timeline for producing a reconstruction and development programme, a document to mobilise and coordinate international assistance for a five-year period.

"What we are hoping to achieve is a comprehensive plan on how to bring Somalia through the recovery process five years into the future, and hopefully into a regular development track," explained Asbjorn Wee, a World Bank representative at the Somali Joint Needs Assessment Inception Retreat.

Abdirizaq Osman Hassan, minister of planning and international cooperation in Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, said his country's priorities were "unlimited", but singled out peace and capacity building, setting up institutions, the provision of social services, including health and education, and the rehabilitation of the infrastructure as the main goals.

"Somalia needs a quick kick-start of stability and creation of law and order - then it will sustain itself," he said.

He acknowledged that insecurity in some areas of the country could affect the assessment effort but maintained that peace prevailed in most of Somalia.

"There is no conflict today that can prevent implementing any programme. The reconciliation process that we started here in Kenya is taking place throughout the country," said Hassan. He observed that donor-pledging conferences had been held for Afghanistan and Iraq at times when those countries were experiencing worse strife than Somalia.

"You cannot have reconciliation without having the resources of sustaining it," he added.

David Bassiouni, UN senior technical coordinator for the Somali Joint Needs Assessment, said the international community must seize every opportunity to help Somalia emerge from conflict.

"Pragmatically you should rush in and use that time of opportunity," he said. "If you do not do that you can never do anything in Somalia."

Bassiouni explained that the retreat was conceived as an "inception workshop" in which participating teams would learn needs-assessment methodologies and agree on a programme of work. "It is the kickoff for the field assessment," he added.

Reports from field assessments inside Somalia would eventually be used to prepare a document to be presented at a Somalia donor conference scheduled for Rome in 2006, Bassiouni said.