The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, asked this Tuesday in Somalia for massive “international support” for this country in the Horn of Africa, which is going through serious “humanitarian difficulties” due to the intense drought and the attacks by the terrorist group Al Shebab.
“I am here to sound the alarm about the need for massive international support due to the humanitarian difficulties this country is facing, to strengthen Somalia’s security capacity, and for its stability and development,” Guterres said during a press conference. meeting in Mogadishu with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
“Although the Somalis have contributed almost nothing to the climate crisis, they are among its main victims,” said Guterres, noting that Somali emissions of polluting gases represent only 0.003% of global emissions.
Guterres’s visit – who travels every year to a country with a Muslim majority during Ramadan – comes after the UN asked the international community last February for 2.6 billion dollars to respond to the humanitarian needs of Somalia, suffering from the worst drought in the world. region of the Horn of Africa in four decades.
According to the UN, around five million Somalis currently experience “high levels of acute food insecurity”.
However, the UN has only managed to raise 15% of the funds it needs to support that country, Guterres lamented today.
The Somali president, for his part, acknowledged that this is a “difficult time” for his country and expressed “deep gratitude” for the solidarity of Guterres and the UN towards the Somali people and government.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also stressed that, despite two challenges, Somalia “is making progress” and “to liberate the country from the scourge of international terrorism”, after its government announced a “total war” against Al Shebab, not past month of August.
The Somali army, supported by allies, has recaptured a third of the territories occupied by the terrorist group since August, the US ambassador to Somalia, Larry Andre, reported in March.
But Al Shebab, which joined the al Qaeda terror network in 2012, continues to control rural areas in central and southern Somalia.
The terror group carries out frequent attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of the country to destabilize the central government – backed by the international community – and establish an ultra-conservative Islamic state, while attacking neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
The country has been in a state of war and chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown, leaving Somalia without an effective government and in the hands of Islamist militias and warlords.
Source: TSF
