Humanitarian catastrophe ‘looms’

MOGADISHU – The Somali government yesterday warned of a humanitarian catastrophe because of acute food shortages in the war-battered Horn of Africa nation.

Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled said: “A humanitarian catastrophe is imminent in Somalia if the international community does not respond soon. “A lot of people have fled their homes across the country and are suffering.There is shortage of food and there is massive inflation in the country at this time.So the government is warning there will be a humanitarian disaster.”The impoverished country had been plagued by conflict since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.Humanitarian organisations had warned in recent weeks that a predicted crop in southern Somalia could worsen the crisis.Thousands of people continued to be displaced by daily violence in the capital, Mogadishu, between Ethiopian-backed transitional government forces and the Islamist-led insurgency.The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) reported last week that thousands of children were at risk of starving to death in the central and southern regions that were the most fertile in the country.According to Unicef, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia had risen from one million to 1,5 million since January.Nampa-AFP”A lot of people have fled their homes across the country and are suffering.There is shortage of food and there is massive inflation in the country at this time.So the government is warning there will be a humanitarian disaster.”The impoverished country had been plagued by conflict since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.Humanitarian organisations had warned in recent weeks that a predicted crop in southern Somalia could worsen the crisis.Thousands of people continued to be displaced by daily violence in the capital, Mogadishu, between Ethiopian-backed transitional government forces and the Islamist-led insurgency.The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) reported last week that thousands of children were at risk of starving to death in the central and southern regions that were the most fertile in the country.According to Unicef, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia had risen from one million to 1,5 million since January.Nampa-AFP