Needed: $2,2bn for Somalia

KAMPALA – Somalia needs $2,,2bn for reconstruction and the restoration of peace, a UN envoy said on Tuesday, as fighting continued in the lawless African nation.

Of the total, $1,093bn would be used for poverty reduction programmes, $666m in social services and $462m in security and governance issues, said UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia Eric Laroche. The UN envoy told 60 delegates from Somali non-governmental organisations and international aid groups that the funds would help rebuild the country wracked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.”They (delegates) are trying to make a diagnosis and find the strategies that include sequencing of priorities to lift the lives of the Somali people out of a humanitarian situation and into one of recovery, reconstruction and development,” he told reporters.Foreign donors were expected to raise the $2,2bn, he said.Almost daily attacks have continued in Mogadishu since Ethiopian-backed government forces defeated Islamist and clan fighters in the Somali capital Mogadishu in April after weeks of heavy fighting.The Somali government is hoping to organise a broad reconciliation conference in Mogadishu on June 14, which has been delayed twice due to insecurity and a lack of funds.Nampa-AFPThe UN envoy told 60 delegates from Somali non-governmental organisations and international aid groups that the funds would help rebuild the country wracked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.”They (delegates) are trying to make a diagnosis and find the strategies that include sequencing of priorities to lift the lives of the Somali people out of a humanitarian situation and into one of recovery, reconstruction and development,” he told reporters.Foreign donors were expected to raise the $2,2bn, he said.Almost daily attacks have continued in Mogadishu since Ethiopian-backed government forces defeated Islamist and clan fighters in the Somali capital Mogadishu in April after weeks of heavy fighting.The Somali government is hoping to organise a broad reconciliation conference in Mogadishu on June 14, which has been delayed twice due to insecurity and a lack of funds.Nampa-AFP