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STORY: UN / GING SOMALIA
TRT: 2.56
SOURCE: UNTV
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE 18 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1.Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
18 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, John Ging and UN spokesperson walking to the dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Director of the Operational Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Somalis have suffered endlessly for almost 25 years. We cannot be distracted now from our task to stay with them, to help, to consolidate this fragile gains that have already been made, to continue to support them to build back resilience to be able to cope with future shocks and this requires funding.”
5. Med shot, presser
6. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Director of the Operational Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“We know that our generous donors have –as I said- a whole proliferation of appeals before them. We make no apology for communicating the needs of the people on the ground. But at the same time, we have to keep now very focused on all of the crisis that there are out there, not just those that are maybe in the centre of current media attention. And for Somalia it does come down to the funding and right now we are very worried about the prospects for funding. But again, it’s a large appeal of some 933 million dollars, of which we have only so far to date this year received 36 million dollars.”
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Director of the Operational Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“The core of Somali’s problems today and for the latest 25 years has been conflict and the incapacity of Somali leadership to provide the government that the people deserve. That’s why I was struck by the honesty of the conversation that I had in Mogadishu this time with politicians who were embracing their responsibility to put the interest of the people first. I am always humbled every time I go to Somalia to see how in such appalling and uncivilized circumstances people remain very civilized in their values. I am talking about the ordinary people, but they are weary, they are weary of decades of impoverishment, of conflict, of despair, of hopelessness.”
9. Med shot, camera woman
10. Wide shot, John Ging walking away from dais
UN operations director for humanitarian affairs John Ging said today (18 Feb) that “Somalis have suffered endlessly for almost 25 years” and that “we cannot be distracted now from our task” to consolidate the fragile gains that have already been made.
Speaking to reporters in New York, Ging stressed that despite to some stabilization, the humanitarian situation in Somalia remains fragile and it is vital that the international community make sure that millions of people in the Horn of Africa nation receive the assistance they need.
He said “for Somalia, it does come down to the funding and right now we are very worried about the prospects for funding.”
Ging, who paid a three-day visit to Somalia last week, noted that only 4 per cent of the US$933 million sought this year for humanitarian operations in the country has been received to date.
He added that this is a very ominous situation in light of the needs in the country; adding that donor attention and action is vital to prevent a situation to that seen in 2011, when some 260,000 people in Somalia died of famine.
During his visit to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa, Ging met with local authorities.
He said that “the core of Somali’s problems today and for the latest 25 years has been conflict and the incapacity of Somali leadership to provide the government that the people deserve. That’s why I was struck by the honesty of the conversation that I had in Mogadishu this time with politicians who were embracing their responsibility to put the interest of the people first.”
He added “I am always humbled every time I go to Somalia to see how in such appalling and uncivilized circumstances people remain very civilized in their values. I am talking about the ordinary people, but they are weary, they are weary of decades of impoverishment, of conflict, of despair, of hopelessness.”
Somalia has been torn asunder by factional fighting since 1991 but has recently made progress towards stability. In 2011, Al-Shabaab insurgents retreated from Mogadishu and last year, new Government institutions emerged, as the country ended a transitional phase toward setting up a permanent, democratically-elected Government.
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