GROWING INSECURITY IN SOMALI CAPITAL HAMPERING AID ACCESS, UN WARNS

Aid workers are finding it increasingly difficult to gain access and provide assistance to residents of the Somali capital because of the worsening conflict there, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

This week's scheduled distribution of 4,000 aid kits in Mogadishu and surrounding areas had to be postponed because of security concerns, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists in Geneva.

The looting by militants of UN facilities in Baidoa and Wajid yesterday has meant assistance efforts in those areas have also ground to a halt.

"We again appeal to the warring parties in Somalia to respect basic international humanitarian and human rights principles and to guarantee the safety and security of the civilian population as well as for the humanitarian workers trying to help the victims," Mr. Redmond said.

The UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, warned yesterday that aid workers in Somalia – and many other countries – are coming under increasingly violent attack.

An estimated 223,000 residents have now left Mogadishu since early May, when the Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam militant groups launched attacks against Government forces in the capital. In the past fortnight alone, about 20,000 people have fled their homes.

The newly displaced join another 400,000 Somalis packed into the Afgooye corridor, a congested strip of land that runs southwest from Mogadishu and is packed with makeshift shelters.

Mr. Redmond said non-governmental organizations (NGOs) trying to operate in the Afgooye area say they are overstretched and unable to cope with the latest influx.

"There is a lack of adequate shelter, sanitation facilities and clean drinking water. The situation has grown worse following recent torrential rains. The lack of sufficient latrines poses a major health risk."

The widespread insecurity means aid workers are struggling to deliver humanitarian assistance from the port of Mogadishu to the Afgooye corridor.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that it is especially concerned about deadly outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea, which is on the rise again around Mogadishu after two years of decline.

WHO is working with its NGO partners to provide cholera kits, oral rehydration sachets, aqua tabs and chlorine, and transport communication sets in a bid to contain the outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera.

Two of Mogadishu's four functioning hospitals are admitting only war-wounded patients and trauma patients for emergency surgery, which is adding to the burden for other facilities.

In the Bakool region, which is home to at least 300,000 people, several health facilities – including a hospital in the town of Xudur – have had to be closed because of insecurity and hostility towards aid workers.

A spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the agency was committed to helping Somalis and was continuing its operations, despite yesterday's attack by looters.
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BAN VOICES CONCERN AFTER AID WORKERS ABDUCTED IN DARFUR

BAN VOICES CONCERN AFTER AID WORKERS ABDUCTED IN DARFUR
New York, Mar 12 2009 12:00PM

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he is deeply concerned at the kidnapping of three humanitarian workers in Darfur, and once again called on the Sudanese Government to reverse its decision last week to expel 13 major aid groups.

The three aid workers abducted yesterday are staff members of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Medecins sans Frontieres' Belgian branch.

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters today, Mr. Ban stressed that these NGOs play a vital role in assisting some 4.7 million people in the strife-torn region.

"The concern of the United Nations in Sudan has always been, and will remain, peace and the well-being of the country's people," Mr. Ban stated. "For millions of Sudanese, these NGOs are a lifeline. They must be allowed to do their work."

The expulsions started immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.

As of 10 March, 183 international staff of the affected NGOs had already left the country, with others are awaiting exit visas to depart, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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BLUE HELMETS, AID WORKERS MUST ‘GREEN’ THEIR OPERATIONS – UN

BLUE HELMETS, AID WORKERS MUST 'GREEN' THEIR OPERATIONS – UN
New York, Mar 11 2009 10:00AM

Military and civilian aid experts at a United Nations-backed meeting today emphasized the need for a peacekeepers and aid agencies to take a 'green' approach in their work to protect the environment and the long-term livelihoods of communities affected by conflict.

Studies have shown that the demand for such critical natural resources as wood and water by peacekeepers can often be significant, straining vulnerable environments.

But this demand could be considerably curbed through better planning and management – including the use of new technologies that guarantee water and energy efficiency as well as construction methods that minimize deforestation – and even play a part in recovery, development and peace consolidated in areas hit by hostilities.

International peacekeeping forces and aid organizations "have the responsibility to ensure that their presence and operations have a minimal ecological footprint and do not aggravate environmental degradation, which may be a dimension of the conflict," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The day-long gathering at the Nairobi headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was co-organized by the UN Department of Field Support (DFS), the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the Swedish Defence Research Agency and the Environmental Law Institute.

UNMIS, with the support of the Swedish Government, is investing $5 million in environmentally-friendly operations for its 10,000 troops in 25 bases. As part of this pilot programme, the Mission is using new ways of treating waste and using both water and energy more efficiently, with the goal of reducing the volume of waste by 60 per cent, water consumption by 30 per cent and energy expenditure by 25 per cent.

A new UNEP report, entitled "From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment," was presented at today's Nairobi's gathering.

The publication notes that at least 18 conflicts since 1990 have been triggered by the exploitation of natural resources, with at least 40 per cent of all civil clashes in the past six decades being linked to these resources.

It stresses that the way the environment is handled can influence post-conflict peacebuilding and stability.

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Darfur: UN working to reverse expulsions while planning to fill vital aid gaps

The United Nation's top humanitarian official said today that the world organization continues to strive at all levels to reverse the ordered departure of 13 major aid groups from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.

At the same time planning is also on-going to cover gaps opened by the expulsions in live-saving assistance that 4.7 million Sudanese – including 2.7 million internally displaced persons – depend on, according to UN Humanitarian Coordinator John Holmes.

Sudan's decision to begin ejecting the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) came on Wednesday, immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.

UN humanitarian agencies immediately warned that aid capability could be slashed by half, since the decision affected such major actors as Oxfam, Care International, International Rescue Committee and Save the Children, along with some 7,000 staff out of a total of some 14,000 in the troubled region.

"We have been in touch with the Government of Sudan, at many levels, and indeed with many other key players over the weekend," Mr. Holmes told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, adding that the NGOs had been advised to exercise their right of appeal against the decision.

He said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been calling stakeholders and that possibilities include a conversation between him and Mr. Al-Bashir "at the right moment."

Neither the UN nor the Government, he warned, had the capacity to fill all the gaps left by the departing organizations, who worked in partnership with the world organization on the ground.

The most urgent short-term gaps were in the areas of water and sanitation and health services, and joint assessments would be pursued tomorrow with the Government to see how these holes could be filled in the short-term.

There were already concerns that a meningitis outbreak in Kalma Camp in South Darfur will spread if not addressed through immediate large-scale inoculation, he said.

Mr. Holmes added that he also remained concerned at the manner in which the Government's decision was being carried out, including intimidation of NGO staff members and the confiscation of property such as automobiles and computers, some of which belonged to the UN.

In one case, warehouses full of food supplied to the NGOs for distribution by the World Food Organization (WFP) were being held, he said.

"This is not in line with the agreement the agreements we have with the Government of Sudan, nor indeed with the any of the normal tenets of behaviour in these kinds of circumstances," he emphasized.

"We've taken up these issues very strongly with the Government and we hope this kind of behaviour will not stop, and that even if the decision itself is not reversed, which we certainly hope it will be," he said.

The UN system would support both the expelled groups and those who remained in every practical way, Mr. Holmes said.

"Not only are we trying to deal with the issue of those NGOs whose registrations have been revoked, but also with the NGOs who remain and are legitimately asking questions how long they will be able to remain and how far they will be able to operate in a normal and safe manner."

An estimated 300,000 people have died and another 3 million have been displaced in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting Government forces and allied Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, since 2003.
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