After a month stranded in the borders, Kenya has finally decided to open its border to Somalia so that almost 140 UN aid truck may cross. However the WFP’s Somali spokesperson, Warsame, said that the trucks have not moved and they have been unable to receive official confirmation of Kenya’s decision.
In the meantime, acute malnutrition continues to rise in Gedo region, which borders Kenya. An estimated one million people in Somalia are in need of assistance according to the UN.
The UN was forced to use the Kenyan overland route after ships and crewmen were kidnapped and held at ransom at sea. Ethiopia has been plagued with violence since 1991 when it last had a government. Kenya closed it borders in January when Ethiopian soldiers began battling Islamists.
On Tuesday Somali gunmen shot a senior government official in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia and the most violent and heavily armed cities in the country. Just last month a district commissioner was also murdered. Almost every day a government official comes under attack despite mass arrests and curfews.
The government blames the string of suicide bombing and roadside explosion on members of the ousted Islamist movement.
The key to ending the conflict is solving the differences between religious and clan groups. However, that may prove to be an unattainable task. Simply inviting the nation’s largest clan, the Hawiye, took two hours on Monday without resolution.
A reconciliation conference is scheduled for July 15. However, neither government official nor Hawiye clan leaders are expected to attend. The major grievance of the Hawiye is the presence of foreign, Ethiopian, troops in the country. However the withdrawal of such troops is essentially government suicide. Neither Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, the United Nations, nor Western diplomats see this as an option. The last time a new government was created from scratch, there was anarchy and violence for two year. Anarchy could possibly empower Islamists sympathetic to Al-Qaida.
Some feel that a bad government is better than none at all.
For more information please see:
BBC – Aid Trucks Allowed in to Somalia – 02 July 2007
Yahoo – Gunmen Slay Somali Official, Blast Kills Teen – 03, July 2007
Yahoo – Somali Elders Search for Peace – 02 July 2007
