Sir, – John O’Shea of Goal (July 30th) is wrong in his perception that the head of the UN’s World Food Programme, Josette Sheeran, acknowledged “that her agency simply has no hope of reaching in excess of two million starving human beings [in Somalia]”.
WFP is already feeding 1.5 million people in Somalia, including more than 300,000 in and around Mogadishu. We are working to reach a further 2.2 million in areas of the south that have been inaccessible. This is a life-and-death situation, and WFP is appealing to those in control of the south for immediate humanitarian access so we can move life-saving food supplies into the areas of greatest need. With thousands of people crossing the borders into Kenya and Ethiopia daily – and streaming into Mogadishu – we need to be able to deliver food to the malnourished instead of them trekking for days in search of it.
Mr O’Shea states that working with local groups to distribute aid is “fanciful”. In fact, WFP Somalia has worked with 87 partners in 2011, of which 82 are national NGOs, government counterparts or community-based organisations and five are international NGOs. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The United Nations has been in contact with the al-Shabaab group and is in conversation with them regarding access for UN agencies to south central Somalia to assist the famine-affected population.
World Vision welcomes and support this initiative, which is in line with World Vision’s call for urgent access to reach the most vulnerable groups there especially children.
However, given the scale of needs, without broader NGO involvement and support, the effectiveness of the UN response will be severely limited. We urge the UN to use its influence to ensure that any agreement on access to populations in need in south central Somalia, is inclusive of NGOs. – Yours, etc,