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UN projects gloomy outlook for Somalia in 2018

Friday December 29 2017
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Somali security personnel walk past burning vehicles as they secure an area in Mogadishu on July 30, 2017 after a car bomb explosion. UN officials are offering a mixed but mainly negative year-end assessment of conditions in Somalia. PHOTO | STR | AFP

By KEVIN J KELLEY

Somalia is still riddled with corruption and faces “grim” humanitarian crisis in 2018, the United Nations has said.

The UN head of Somalia mission Michael Keating said progress towards stability is being impeded by extreme drought and hunger, terrorism and other “enormous challenges”.

“These include pervasive corruption, most obviously in politics, and powerbrokers’ willingness to use violence, or the threat of violence, against opponents,” he said.

Noting that Al Shabaab militants remains capable of launching devastating attacks, Mr Keating said the jihadist group “thrives, among other things, on the absence of functional local government and on the many conflicts around the country.”

And it is not only Shabaab that threatens the country's future, he added.

“Somalis deserve better than to watch as the most privileged compete for personal gain at a time when they face so much adversity and insecurity,” Mr Keating said.

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Famine

The UN humanitarian agency reported a 10-fold increase in the number of Somalis classified as on the brink of famine — from 88,000 in January to 866,000 in November.

Overall, 6.2 million Somalis require humanitarian aid, the UN body said Wednesday, adding that: “More than half of these require urgent life-saving assistance.”

The agency further noted that projections of below-average rainfall for the coming year indicate that Somalia's “unprecedented drought” is likely to persist.

“The prospects for recovery in 2018 remain grim,” it said.

Achievements

Some achievements did occur during the past year, Mr Keating noted.

He pointed to the coordinated effort by the government, business sector, civil society, Somalis in the diaspora and international donors that helped avert famine that had threatened the lives of three million people.

Mr Keating also praised the 2017 peaceful transfer of presidential power through an election that saw Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, popularly known as Farmajo, take the reins of government. President Farmajo, a former prime minister and US-Somali national, is reputed to be competent and independent.

The UN similarly noted a 24 per cent increase in the number of women in the legislature after “80 female members of Parliament took their seats”.

Mr Keating said he was “encouraged by what has been achieved, while aware of how difficult the situation remains.”

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