Villagers line up for a World Vision food distribution in Waajid, Somalia.
©2007 World Vision staff

Since then, the crisis engulfing Somalia has deteriorated dramatically, while access to people in need continues to decrease: Some 360,000 people have been newly displaced and an additional half million people are reliant on humanitarian assistance.

Growing needs as crisis deepens

There are now more than 1 million internally displaced people in Somalia. Intense conflict in Mogadishu continues to force an average of 20,000 people from their homes each month. This, combined with record high food prices, hyperinflation and drought in large parts of the country, is leaving communities struggling to survive. Extreme water and food shortages are expected to worsen across the country if the seasonal rains (April-June) fail, as experts are predicting.

As the crisis worsens, Somali and international aid agencies are unable to respond adequately to the needs. Attacks on and killings of aid workers, the looting of relief supplies, and a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict have left 2 million Somalis in need of basic humanitarian assistance.

Issue brought before U.N.

For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten. The undersigned agencies are asking the international community and all parties to the conflict to urgently focus their attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Somalia. They must ensure access for humanitarian supplies, live up to their responsibility to protect civilians and address the environment of impunity. The humanitarian crisis will become more and more complex and will continue to deepen in the absence of a political solution to the current crisis.

U.N. Security Council members will this week consider the Secretary General's March 21 report on Somalia. At this important time, NGOs feel it is vital to make a statement highlighting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia to ensure that these concerns are part of the debate and with the hope that they are reflected in any decisions made by the Security Council.

Thirty-nine agencies have signed on to this joint statement. Read the full press release on the crisis in Somalia, including a list of the agencies that signed the statement of concern last fall.

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