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UN Secretary General António Guterres began a brief visit to Somalia on Tuesday. In Mogadishu, the country’s capital, Guterres sounded the alarm and called for “massive international support” of $2.6 billion for this country ravaged by conflict and natural disasters. This trip by the UN leader comes as Somalia is mired in a disastrous drought and in a bloody war against the Islamist armed group Al Shabab.
UN Director General António Guterres arrived in Somalia on Tuesday morning for a short “solidarity visit” to mark the month of Ramadan. The trip is part of his regular visits to Muslim countries during the holy month.
Authorities dramatically tightened security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, for this unannounced visit. Most of the roads were closed while public transportation was restricted.
This official visit comes at a time when this country in the Horn of Africa is suffering from a historic drought that has brought many people to the brink of famine, and also when the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mahamoud is engaged in a large-scale offensive scale to counter a bloody Islamist insurgency.
Today in Somalia I visited families who have been forced to flee due to terrorism & drug.
Despite having lost so much, their determination to rebuild their lives is nothing short of inspiring.
The world can no longer neglect them nor the millions of fellow Somalis in need. pic.twitter.com/eoZXNeBLU2
—António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 11, 2023
“I am also here to sound the alarm on the need for massive international support: massive international support due to the humanitarian difficulties the country is facing, massive humanitarian support linked to strengthening security capacities in Somalia, and massive humanitarian support. for the stabilization and development of the country,” Guterres said at a joint press conference with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
Somalia, “big victim of climate change”
Somalia, like its neighbors in the Horn of Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, has suffered from an unprecedented drought for at least 40 years, caused by five failed rainy seasons that have wiped out livestock and crops and forced at least 1.7 million people to leave their homes in search of water and food.
The UN has requested 2.6 billion dollars in humanitarian aid for the country. “I ask donors and I call on the international community to increase their support to urgently finance the 2023 humanitarian response plan, which is currently only 15% financed,” urged Guterres, who also recalled that the country is a of the main victims of climate change, even if it does not contribute to it.
“Somalia contributes 0.003% to the emissions that cause climate change. Although Somalia causes almost nothing to climate change, Somalis are among the biggest victims. Nearly five million people suffer from high levels of acute food insecurity and therefore Of course, the increase in prices is making the situation worse,” he said, also referring to inflation.
According to the UN, about half the population will need humanitarian aid this year, with 8.3 million people affected by the drought.
“The crisis is far from over: the needs remain high and urgent,” the UN coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, had declared last week in Geneva. “Some of the worst-affected areas continue to face the risk of famine,” he had warned.
In March, flooding triggered by seasonal rains killed 21 people and displaced more than 100,000, and the rains may not be enough to improve prospects for food security.
Somalia already suffered a famine in 2011 that killed 260,000 people, more than half of whom were children under the age of six, partly because the international community did not respond quickly enough, according to the UN. According to a study published in March by the Somali Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and the UN agency Unicef, between 18,100 and 34,200 people could die from the drought during the first six months of this year.
Conflict with the Islamist armed group Al Shabab
Somalia is also wracked by decades of civil war, political violence and a bloody insurgency by the Shabab, a jihadist group affiliated with al Qaeda. “With the president we discussed the valuable efforts of the government to fight terrorism and advance peace and security for all,” Guterres said.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who returned to power in May 2022, promised radical Islamists an “all-out war” last year and sent troops in September to support an uprising against the group launched by local militias in the center of the country.
In recent months, the army and militias known as “Macawisley” have retaken swaths of territory, in an operation backed by the African Union force in Somalia (Atmis) and US airstrikes.
The government declared in late March that more than 3,000 Shabab fighters had been killed since the start of the offensive. And according to the Information Ministry, 70 cities and towns have been “liberated” from the rebels, who have been fighting the internationally-backed federal government since 2007. But independent media and news agencies have been unable to verify these claims.
Despite the government’s advances, the Shabab have frequently responded to the offensive with deadly attacks, thus demonstrating their ability to attack civilian, political and military targets in the heart of Somali cities and military installations. In a report to the UN Security Council in February, Antonio Guterres claimed that 2022 had been the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017, largely due to Shabab attacks.
AFP, Local media