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STORY: UN / SOMALIA
TRT: 1.51
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 JANUARY 2011, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
14 JANUARY 2011, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Augustine P. Mahiga, United Nations Special Representative for Somalia:
“The unfolding severe drought situation in Somalia is cause for serious concern, as the shortfall, the short rains have failed in most parts of the country. Already 2 million people are affected and the number is expected to rise as water supplies dwindle, livestock disseminates and internal displacement escalates.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed, Prime Minister of Somalia:
“Somalia is in the grip of potentially devastating drought. Agriculture is in the early stages of collapse. A crisis looms as over 2 million people face starvation. The Government has started delivering aid to the IDPs and the poor as best as we can in areas under government control. We have also identified ways of reaching out and delivering aid to areas under rebel control. ”
7. Wide shot, Security Council
8. Pan left, from reporters to Abdulahi Mohamed at the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
9. Close up, camera
14 JANUARY 2011, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed, Prime Minister of Somalia:
“Nearly 2.5 million are on the verge of starvation and unless we will have immediate support, international support, definitely there will be a catastrophic situation in Somalia. So, we ask the international community to immediately reach this starving, hopefully, this starving people.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
11. Close up, reporter’s notepad
14 JANUARY 2011, NEW YORK CITY
12. Zoom out, Abdulahi Mohamed walks away
United Nations (UN) and Somali officials today (14 January) warned about an impending humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, as the country faces a severe drought that could affect up to 2.5 million people.
Delivering Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report to the Security Council on Somalia, Special Representative Augustine P. Mahiga expressed serious concern about the shortfall of rains in most parts of the country, which already has affected two million people “and the number is expected to rise as water supplies dwindle, livestock disseminates and internal displacement escalates.”
New Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed, in his address to the Council, said that the Government has started delivering aid to the people displaced by the “potentially devastating drought” in areas under government control and has also “identified ways of reaching out and delivering aid to areas under rebel control.”
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has been under attack from Al-Shabaab and other Islamist militants controlling the south and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been driven from their homes by the conflict.
Outside the Security Council Abdulahi Mohamed told journalists that “nearly 2.5 million are on the verge of starvation” and noted that without “immediate support” from the international community “there will be a catastrophic situation in Somalia.”
The Secretary-General’s report also expresses deep concern about the impact of the conflict on civilians and calls on all parties to ensure their protection and remind them of their responsibility to protect.
Last month, the Council approved a 50 per cent increase in the UN-backed African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia, known as AMISOM to 12,000 troops, a move welcomed by the Secretary-General in his report.
The report acknowledges the AU call to the Security Council to reaffirm its commitment to deploy a UN peacekeeping force, by transforming AMISOM into one of the peacekeeping operations run by the world body, with a fixed timeline.
Because of the security situation, the UN does not maintain a full international presence in Somalia, and its UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) is based in Nairobi, capital of neighbouring Kenya.
