MSF withdraws from SACB over "neutrality"

All sections of the international medical aid organisation Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF) have withdrawn from the inter-agency Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB), citing fears that humanitarian neutrality have been compromised. In a statement released on Wednesday, MSF said it saw "the trend within the SACB to - sometimes publicly - affirm and support peace-building through the support to [the] Transitional National Government [TNG] as a threat to the neutrality of humanitarian assistance, and understands [it] is not the humanitarian agencies' role to strengthen any administration". According to the organisation, the SACB's mandate to "provide policy and operational coordination for rehabilitation and development activities" has led some SACB actors to be increasingly involved in peace-building efforts. The statement said that, with a view to recent political developments, MSF saw peace-building activities by humanitarian organisations as "a threat to the basic principle of neutrality and impartiality in providing assistance to people in need... which could limit access". The agency said it had tried to "reverse this trend within the SACB", but without satisfactory results. It said it would like to continue to work in Somalia "in a spirit of cooperation with other actors", and would continue to liaise with the technical health working groups... "where direct return to the beneficiaries is felt". In March, MSF personnel were among a group of humanitarian workers who came under attack in Mogadishu by militia opposed to the TNG. The TNG was elected in peace talks hosted in Djibouti 2000, and later established itself in the capital in October. Although it has received international recognition, Somali opposition factions and autonomous administrations continue to denounce it, and insecurity in the capital continues.