Egeland remains cautiously optimistic on Somalia

Top United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland remained cautiously optimistic regarding the humanitarian situation in war-torn Somalia after a U.N. team visited the Islamic Courts Militia in the capital on Sunday.

“We agreed to have a systematic dialogue with the Courts to get access to the civilian population in Mogadishu,” said Egeland, noting that it is the only capital on earth with no presence of international organizations.

The Courts “asked the international humanitarian organizations to step up their operations and said they would not restrict our freedom of movement and our access to the civilian population,” he said.

The Islamic Courts Militia recently gained control of Mogadishu over a number of warlords who had reigned in the capital for the past 15 years after the collapse of the last government. Fighting erupted again this week until 500 Somalis fighting for the warlords in the last holdout areas surrendered on Tuesday.

Egeland told reporters that Sunday’s meeting was full of ‘tough messages’ from the U.N. including a call not to harbour terrorists. The Islamic Courts Militia, run by an armed group that supports Muslim Sharia law, is purported to have some members with links to al Qaeda.

The U.N. humanitarian and security team also called on the Courts to urgently investigate the killing of Swedish freelance journalist Martin Adler, who was killed in a large crowd at a rally in Mogadishu last month.

We asked “that there would not be impunity for those who killed him in the presence of many witnesses and the Islamic courts promised to get back with their investigation that is ongoing,” said Egeland on Monday.

“If the international community had hopes of re-establishing a functioning Somalia that would be democratic, that would not harbour terrorists, you have to have a massive international political, diplomatic, security, humanitarian, and development investment,” said Egeland, as he spoke of the lack of funding for the country. He has written to members of the Contact Group on Somalia, including the United Kingdom, United States, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Tanzania, and European Union representatives, to request more funding.

Somalia has some of the world’s highest rates of child mortality and lowest school enrolment, with one in four children living past the age of five, while only one in five children go to school.

Of the 2.1 million people desperately in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. is able to reach only 1.4 million, according to Egeland. He noted that a new aid centre had been set up in Merca, 180 km south of the capital, and he has hopes for another centre in Mogadishu.

“As soon as the security department is conducive to that, we will go back,” he said. “I hope it is a matter of weeks, not months. The conditions on the ground will decide.”

Although cautiously optimistic, Egeland said the Courts need to prove themselves to the international community. “The Sharia Courts have only proven themselves in having a lot of popular support in the areas they have won over and in having success in the battlefield. They have not at all provided any effective administration, so that remains to be seen, whether that will actually happen,” said Egeland.

lab/md/ccr