Crisis may 'erupt in Somalia'
2006-08-16 11:34
Nairobi - A severe humanitarian crisis may erupt this year in Somalia, where insecurity could compound crop failures and leave some 3.6 million people in need of urgent aid, says a United Nations agency.
It said that still battling to recover from the effects of a killer drought that had hit east Africa, about 1.8 million Somalis remained dependent on assistance and that number could double if fears of widespread conflict were realised.
The UN's Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) noted slight improvements in conditions in certain areas of Somalia, but said crisis conditions prevailed particularly in the south and would persist until at least the end of the year.
1.8m in need of humanitarian assistance
The FSAU said: "An estimated 1.8 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and livelihood support at least until the end of December 2006."
It blamed drought-related crop failures and livestock deaths as the main causes, but said supplies of aid and imported food stuffs were compromised by violence and could be reduced to a trickle by large-scale fighting.
Somalia, a nation of 10 million, was rocked by a standoff between Islamists, who controlled much of the south including the capital, and a weak government that was rocked by infighting and unable to exert its authority.
The FSAU said: "If there is an escalation in the political crisis, which results in widespread conflict and the disruption of inter-regional trade, the implications for the humanitarian situation will be severe."
It said: "In such a scenario, the total number of people facing humanitarian crisis could double", adding that all of south and central Somalia might be plunged into an "emergency of a significantly increased scale and magnitude".