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STORY: UN / SOMALIA HUMANITARIAN
SOURCE: UNTV / UNHCR
TRT: 2.25
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 29 JUNE 2011, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
29 JUNE 2011, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bowden, Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia:
“The reason for calling this press briefing is because of the concern we have at the moment about a rapidly deteriorating situation in Somalia, and a situation where if we are not able to respond rapidly and effectively to it, there will be many more lives lost as result of malnutrition there at the moment. We have currently the highest rates of malnutrition in the Horn of Africa; some 30 percent of children are suffering from global acute malnutrition.”
4. Med shot, Bowden from behind in front of journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bowden, Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia:
“The major problem facing us is that the epicentre of this crisis is in South Somalia, an area that is held by rebel groups, the Al-Shabbab, and access is difficult for that area, but is certainly not impossible. There are problems in getting food into the area but it is possible to provide health assistance, supplementary and therapeutic feeding as well as providing support to livelihoods.”
6. Med shot, audience
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Bowden, Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia:
“Currently our resources are woefully inadequate to deal with the problems. We have an appeal that is only, at the moment, 40 percent met, and some of the key sectors that are needed to protect and save the lives of people in Somalia are not addressed at all.”
8. Med shot, reporters
9. Zoom out, dais
FILE – UNHCR - 20, 25 FEBRUARY 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
10. Wide shot, city street
11. Various shots, Bakara Market
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is “rapidly deteriorating,” a senior United Nations (UN) aid official warned today (29 June) at a press conference in New York, calling on donors to urgently fund an appeal that is so far only 40 percent met.
UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said that the situation is such that “if we are not able to respond rapidly and effectively to it, there will be many more lives lost as result of malnutrition,” now affecting 30 percent of children in Somalia.
Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991, has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for decades. Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and political infighting have only worsened the dire humanitarian situation in recent months.
Bowden said that a major problem is that “the epicentre of this crisis is in South Somalia, an area that is held by rebel groups”, including Al-Shabbab. He noted that “access is difficult for that area, but is certainly not impossible” and “it is possible to provide health assistance, supplementary and therapeutic feeding as well as providing support to livelihoods.”
He stressed that currently “resources are woefully inadequate to deal with the problems” with “key sectors that are needed to protect and save the lives of people in Somalia” not being addressed.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) nearly 10 million people facing severe food shortages as a result of a prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa, and resources for the relief effort in the region are dwindling at a time when assistance needs to be stepped up.
Conflict in Somalia also continues to force civilians from their homes, with an estimated 10,000 people arriving each week at crowded refugee camps in Kenya. The number of malnourished children receiving supplementary or therapeutic feeding in the camps has tripled this year, an indication of the seriousness of the problem and the need for swift international action.
