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| Africa Horn |
| Donors, aid agencies warn of choking insecurity in Puntland |
| 2008-04-20 |
| (SomaliNet) Nearly two weeks after two United Nations (UN) staffers escaped an ambush, donors and aid agencies on Friday warned that worsening security in the Somali breakaway region of Puntland is choking off humanitarian efforts. The agencies said in a statement released by the UN Development Programme that this has prompted agencies to temporarily reduce the number of international staff in the north-eastern region, where the local population is still in need of help. "The international community is gravely concerned about the steady trend in the deterioration of security conditions in the Puntland State of Somalia," the statement said. "We call on Puntland State authorities to take steps to ensure the safety of staff working to help the people, and to show their commitment by their actions in subjecting the perpetrators of attacks against aid workers to due process of law." The agencies further urged influential traditional and religious leaders to renounce and expose lawlessness and participate in efforts to ensure aid programmes are not hampered. An incident on April 6, when two staff members of the UN refugee agency narrowly escaped an ambush on their vehicle by armed militiamen in Puntland, had highlighted the worsening situation, the statement said. Two aid workers and a journalist were abducted late last year and a German aid worker was briefly held in February in a region disputed by Puntland and the neighbouring breakaway region of Somaliland. Two other aid workers - a Kenyan and a Briton - employed by an India-based organisation and contracted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation are currently held by gunmen in southern Somalia. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Seems Puntland is also the source of many (if not most) of the pirates operating in the area. Maybe if they weren't so stoopid they might be able to be helped. Stupidity is a terminal illness. I have no sympathy for those that die from it. That goes double when it's compounded by religious idiocy. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-04-20 16:18 |