Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mogadishu (Fides Service) - "I would not want the race to meet the humanitarian emergency, necessary to save millions of people, however, hides the root problem, which is the lack of state structure", says His Exc. Mgr. Giorgio Bertin, Bishop of Djibouti and Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Today, July 25, the emergency meeting of the FAO on the most serious food crisis that has hit the Horn of Africa has started in Rome. The country most at risk is Somalia, for years in the throes of civil war
"The problem of Somalia is the lack of the State - continues Mgr. Bertin -. If you do not take note of this situation holes will continue to be stopped up, without solving the problem. Humanitarian action, which must be done urgently, must also be accompanied by a responsible political speech with the head of the Somalis. I met some three weeks ago in Nairobi - said Mgr. Bertin -. I told them that what is happening comes from the fact that they have failed to express a true leadership able to reconstruct the state structures. Personal interest was instead privileged and that of the family or clan".
According to the Shabab (the members of the Islamist movement who oppose to the government in Mogadishu) humanitarian emergency is emphasized by the UN to create a pretext for interfering in the internal situation in Somalia. According to Mgr. Bertin "between the Shabab, there are different souls. Who had made a statement in favor of the return of NGOs, is closer to the clan and realizes that people are dying of hunger. There is also another component, more radical, linked to a sort of international context, which is probably not interested in this tragedy". "In short, the Shabab are not so united, even if they give the impression of being a unified movement", concludes the Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/07/2011)
