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UN / SOMALIA CRISIS WRAP
STORY: UN / SOMALIA CRISIS WRAP
TRT: 3.07
SOURCE: UNTV / OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 JULY 2011, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
20 JULY 2011, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, video conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bowden, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia:
“We estimate that almost half of the Somali population 3.7 million people are affected by this crisis and of whom 2.8 million people live in the south, the most seriously affected area. It is likely that tens of thousands will have already died, the majority of these being children. Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years. It’s at the epicentre of regional food crisis, this desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives. Humanitarian situation in Somalia are difficult but not impossible, more than ever Somali people deserve our full attention.”
4. Cutaway, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bowden, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia:
“I think that we are facing in Somalia a number of factors. First of all the economic recession has led to a reduction in humanitarian assistance and its very easy to put Somalia in a the ‘too difficult to deal with basket’ and to let it drop off the agenda. And I think that’s been a major factor. In terms of the Shabaab and the US restrictions, I know that the USA, the US officials are working very hard to find ways of providing support, not to circumvent there own legislation but to find ways of making it more, making assistance more accessible to us and I am very hopeful that they can find ways of increasing support along with other donors.”
6. Wide shot, video conference
7. Wide shot, Ban Ki-moon approaches microphone
8. Cutaway, journalist taking notes
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“If funding is not made available for humanitarian interventions now the famine is likely to continue and spread. The overall requirement is 1.6 billion dollars (Horn of Africa), for Somalia roughly 300 million US dollars is needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to famine affected areas.”
10. Wide shot, Ambassador Susan Rice approaches the microphone
11. Cutaway, journalist
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“We have provided support and we will continue to provide support to the refugees that have reached Ethiopia and Kenya among others but our support has gone to Somalia as well and will continue to do so. The challenge has been access to the humanitarian aid agencies particularly in the South and the central region and it’s been blocked deliberately as a matter of policy by Al-Shabaab and Al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation by preventing its own people from been able to access critically needed assistance.”
RECENT / DOLO CAMP, ETHIOPIA-SOMALIA BORDER
13. Tilt down, from mother to child walking in desert like area
14. Wide shot, child scrapping empty pot for food
15. Wide shot, Mark Bowden with refugees
16. Med shot, refugees on the go
The United Nations today declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia owing to the worst drought in decades, and appealed for urgent resources to assist millions of people in desperate need of help.
Mark Bowden, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, who just returned from a visit to the Horn of Africa, warned that malnutrition rates in Somalia were currently the highest in the world, with peaks of 50 per cent in certain areas of the country’s south.
Bowden estimated that almost half of the Somali population 3.7 million people were affected by this crisis, of which 2.8 million people lived in the south, the most seriously affected area.
In the two regions of southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle in southern Somalia, acute malnutrition rates are above 30 per cent. Bowden said it was likely that “tens of thousands” would have already died, the majority being children.
He warned that Somalia was facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years. and that it was at the epicentre of a regional food crisis, “this desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives”, he said.
Commenting on funding, Bowden said the economic recession had led to a reduction in humanitarian assistance adding that “its very easy to put Somalia in a “too difficult to deal with basket” and to let it drop off the agenda.
In terms of the insurgent group Al-Shabaab and the United States (US) restrictions to any aid reaching this group, he said that US officials were working to find ways of providing support, while not circumventing there own legislation. He added that he was “very hopeful” they would find ways of increasing support along with other donors.
Later outside the Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that humanitarian agencies needed urgent funding to save lives, adding that roughly 300 million dollars were needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to famine-affected areas.
US Ambassador Susan Rice emphasized that the US had provided support and would continue to do so to the refugees that had reached Ethiopia and Kenya and that they the would continue with their support to Somalia.
Rice said the challenge had been access for humanitarian aid agencies in the South and central region where it had been blocked “deliberately as a matter of policy by Al-Shabaab.” She said that Al-Shabaab was principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of a drought situation by preventing Somalis from been able to access assistance.
UN agencies have asked for $1.6 billion to pay for essential programmes in the Horn of Africa, but have only received half that amount. Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are all facing a crisis that is being called the worst in 50 years, leaving an estimated 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Famine is declared when acute malnutrition rates among children exceed 30 per cent, more than two people per every 10,000 die per day, and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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