UN team to assess Somalia

2006-08-02 14:15

Mogadishu - A United Nations team arrived in the Somali capital on Wednesday to assess the humanitarian needs of people who had been affected by the recent fighting between the Islamists and United the States-backed warlords, said officials.

The last time a UN humanitarian team conducted an assessment in Mogadishu was in 2000, but its mission was cut short by the insecurity that prevailed as the city was under the control of unruly warlords.

After landing at the new Mogadishu International Airport, the team headed for talks with officials from the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), which controlled the capital and much of southern Somalia.

A senior SICS official said: "The team is going to assess the humanitarian needs of people in Mogadishu and nearby areas."

400 000 people displaced

Since June, after the Islamists captured Mogadishu from US-backed warlords, they had managed to establish some law and order.

In addition to more than a million drought victims, Somalia was home to 400 000 displaced people, 250 000 of whom were living in squalid settlements in Mogadishu.

Their lives had been complicated by accessibility problems. According to aid groups, delivery of relief supplies was cut off by increasingly brazen pirates who had attacked UN ships and donors had fallen far short in meeting urgent appeals for assistance.

The UN said that of the $326m appealed for in 2006, donors had delivered only 40%, half of which was for food.

A transitional government formed in 2004 and based in provincial town of Baidoa, about 250km west of Mogadishu, had been wracked with infighting and unable to exert control over much of the country.

- AFP