AFRICA/SOMALIA - 50,000 Somali children at risk for malnutrition and inadequate sanitation

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) – In Somalia the famine of 2011 has ended, Mogadishu is rid of militia, in politics there has been marked progress. Never the less the United Nations Organisation and the Somali government continue to ask international benefactors to send aid to the country which they say is experiencing a severe crisis. Humanitarian associations, pressed by the situation of emergency in Somalia in recent years, have had neither the time or the resources necessary for the rebuilding of the country. Many Somalis live in terrible conditions, the lives of 50,000 children are threatened by severe malnutrition. International benefactors, due to the ongoing crisis in Syria and new continual emergencies in South Sudan and in the Central African Republic, have less funds for Somalia, although sanitation indicators in Somalia are more serious than those in the above mentioned countries. There is also concern for corruption and theft in a country where government has no control over the economy. A report from the UN monitoring group for Somalia and Eritrea in the past denounced corruption among government ministers, unlawful appropriation of food supplies destined for aid, bad administration. Some 60% of the people, 3.5 million living in central and south Somalia, are under the control of al-Shabab. The UN fears that the offensive may come precisely in the sowing season here in this region regarded as the country’s basket of consumer goods and essential services and may have a major impact on the next harvest. (AP) (27/2/2014 Agenzia Fides)