09/22/2003

Photo Credit: Reuters Alertnet/Antony Njuguna courtesy www.alertnet.org
A Somali gunman stands next to the ruins of the Mogadishu Cathedral.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991. Since that time the nation has struggled with clan based wars and civil unrest. These conflicts have caused hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring countries, while displacing many more people inside Somalia. Currently there are over 500,000 Somali refugees and over 370,000 internally displaced persons. The political chaos and lack of security have made it virtually impossible for external agencies to mount large-scale humanitarian operations, creating a vicious circle in which lack of stability leads to aid shortfalls which in turn make it still more difficult to establish basic security and stability even at the local level. Incredibly, the December 26 tsunami reached the Somali coast, killing at least 300 people, causing $24 million dollars in damage, and forcing an estimated 4,000 people in northeast Somalia to relocate.

The United Nations appeal for Somalia requests $164 million to cover projects in health, shelter, food, education, infrastructure, water and sanitation, human rights, rule of law, and other areas. The appeal is currently only 2% funded, but greater funding is highly unlikely without the achievement of political stability. Negotiations among the numerous Somali clans and political factions have been on-going in Kenya, but they have failed so far to produce the comprehensive agreement that the country needs to allow aid operations to resume on the scale required.

Read more about the Forgotten People of Somalia.

Read more about Refugees International's work in Somalia.