An African Union report says many people are dying in famine-stricken Somalia because of international indifference to their plight. AU officials are urging the United Nations and the donor community to move quickly now that Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked militants are in retreat.
African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping said Somalia’s famine is needlessly claiming lives that could have been saved if early famine warnings had been heeded.
In a report to the AU Peace and Security Council, however, Ping said recent security improvements in Mogadishu present a fresh opportunity to act on both the humanitarian and security fronts.Aiding Somalis most in need
Briefing journalists after a council meeting Tuesday, Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said he is encouraged by a surge in attention to Somalia, beginning with a U.N. Security Council meeting scheduled this week. He said the world body must take the lead in creating humanitarian corridors that would allow aid to reach Somalis trapped in the famine zone.
“It is politically necessary and technically doable. We need to put our minds together with a number of key players at the United Nations,” said Lamamra. “U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is convening a summit on Somalia on 23rd September and that would be the right place to consider all related issues. Humanitarian corridors are necessary given the risk of further degradation of the situation at the humanitarian level.”
Lamamra said the Security Council should seize the moment created by last month’s retreat of al-Qaida-linked fighters from Mogadishu to take the kinds of action that could defeat the militants and allow distribution of life-saving food in the famine zone.
