Somalia crisis plea to world leaders

Kenya’s Prime Minister has called on the international community to salvage Somalia from the brink of total collapse. Prime Minister Raila Odinga yesterday asked world leaders to intervene with practical solutions that could bail out the Transitional Federal Government from the recent wave of attacks by militia sympathetic to the Al Qaeda terrorist group.

Some 300 people have been killed and more than 120,000 have fled the capital Mogadishu since hardline Islamist militias stepped up attacks in May in a push to overthrow the government. The Premier said the situation had to be contained because it is a potential threat to the stability of neighbouring countries in the horn of African. "We want the world to come to the rescue of the Mogadishu government because we cannot afford to bear the consequences of a failed Somalia state," he said according to a Kenyan news agency. After a meeting with Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke, Mr Odinga told a press conference on Monday that Kenya was committed to see Somalia’s transitional government restored sanity and the rule of law. He said Kenya has been affected by the conflict in Somalia because it has received the majority of fleeing refugees whose numbers have topped 250,000.

The plea comes as a top United Nations official said in an interview that the global financial crisis is worsening the suffering for thousands of homeless Somalis as food prices soar. Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian coordinator for the country, said the slowdown has cut payments from Somalis living abroad at time of massive displacement and rampant food price inflation. More than 1 million Somalis abroad have propped up the troubled nation's economy despite the conflict. These payments have been a lifeline to at least a third of the population. "Unlike some other countries' expatriate populations, the Somalis tend to have less professionals and so more manual workers being affected by job cuts in Europe and America," Bowden said.

An estimated 3.4 million Somalis depend on food aid, according to figures from Reuters news agency, and the country is facing its worst drought in a decade. Growing insecurity and drought had ramped up food price inflation to 300 per cent in many parts of Somalia, Mr Bowden said. With militia groups battling pro-government forces for control of the capital and different towns elsewhere, Bowden called for guarantees to ensure aid reached affected populations. "I call upon everyone to help provide the guarantees that we need to deliver this food," Mr Bowden said.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children