Plea for greater commitment from international community

The UN's Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Carolyn McAskie, has urged the international community to invest in development and humanitarian support to Somalia in a bid to boost peace efforts.

"It is time for us to dispel the old images of Somalia and start focusing on what is happening on the ground," she told a news conference in Nairobi on Tuesday. "There is a gradual emerging of stability at the village, district and regional level, which means Somalia is rebuilding itself from the disaster which happened 10 years ago."

McAskie, who has just returned from a visit to the Gedo and Baidoa regions of southern Somalia, said the warlord culture which has ravaged Somalia for the last decade is diminishing in many parts of the country. She said this was a sign of progress that needed to be rewarded by investing in development.

"We found a real willingness among the people to rebuild their society," said McAskie who visited a number of UN and NGO projects and feeding programmes. "People are working now to rebuild their lives in a way that was impossible 10, five or even two years ago. That is what we need to support. Fewer people are going hungry...The rule of the gun in some of the local authorities is slowly turning into the rule of law."

She said the international community needed to be "engaged" in supporting the ongoing political process in Somalia through humanitarian and development interventions, both of which were necessary for peace-building in the country. "Our basic message is that there is a lot being done by the international community and a lot being done by the Somalis themselves to help the people rebuild their lives, and their food sufficiency levels. But there is a lot that needs to be done and a lot that still can be done," she said.

"We must recognise that what we do at the development and humanitarian level will have far reaching implications on the political process. We should give the kind of support that can enrich the political process," she added.

The situation in Gedo region, one of the regions worst affected by drought and insecurity, had improved, and some development programmes and agricultural activities were beginning to take place, McAskie noted. "The women in Gedo are really pleased that the food is given to them directly and not through a layer of committees which used to siphon some of the food," McAskie said.

In Baidoa, McAskie met local leaders and representatives of non-governmental organisations and visited projects focusing on Somalia’s rehabilitation needs, such as schools, a health clinic and a women’s farming cooperative.

The UN has appealed for some US $83 million for Somalia for the year 2002, according to a UN press release. It said the UN is urging donors to commit more funds for Somalia, which in recent years has only attracted about the half the funding required.