From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: SOMALIA: European parliamentarians
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:00:11 GMT

Title: SOMALIA: European parliamentarians to visit later this month


brussels, sep 1 (ips) -- european parliamentarians will later this
month step foot among the hundreds of thousands of starving in
somalia in an effort to get the african country on the political
agenda -- now primarily focused on iraq and former yugoslavia.

''somalia is not a political priority like yugoslavia or even
iraq,'' said british socialist mp, michael mcgowan, a member of
the 'joint assembly' grouping european parliamentarians with
delegates from the 69 african, caribbean and pacific (acp)
nations.

the reason for the visit -- a specific date has not been
announced -- is to assess if the ec should be doing more alongside
the relief efforts of other international institutions and non-
governmental organisations (ngos) like save the children and the
international red cross.

mcgowan tuesday criticised the slow reaction of some
international bodies and the poor coordination of on-the-spot
relief efforts. but before pointing any fingers, he said it was
necessary for the parliamentarians to go and see for themselves
what is happening.

although the parliamentarians have no hold on the ec's purse
strings, their voices often put pressure on the decision makers.

former prime minister of belgium wilfried martens, a well-known
christian democrat, returned here from a weeklong visit tuesday,
saying that the priority at this moment is to provide greater
security for the food aid, rather than make bigger food
commitments.

save the children and many other ngos are however calling for the
flooding of somalia with food aid to prevent looting. the argument
is that the warring factions would no longer loot the aid if it
was abundant.

the united nations has already sent 500 blue berets to somalia to
prevent looting of donor aid, but dr pierre harze of the medecins
sans frontieres (msf), does not think this is enough. ''somalia is
an immense country, even 3,000 blue berets could prove
insufficient,'' said harze.

''we are facing colossal difficulties. in the port of
kissimayo (southern somalia), there are five msf expatriates
working with 42 locally recruited armed guards, surrounding our
feeding centres,'' he added. ''i take my hat off to anyone working
there.''

earlier this week, save the children director nicolas hinton,
described the u.n.'s efforts to date as ''ill-equipped, ill-
informed and uncoordinated''. (more/ips)

somalia: european parliamentarians to visit later this month(2-e)

somalia: european (2)

and while the ec has been responsive in terms of funding, it
too has come under fire for its bureaucracy which delays the
release of funds, and its insistence of prioritising security
measures as a prerequisite for sending more aid.

the msf, like mcgowan, feels that the political will to organise
long-term efforts and confront the security problem is lacking.
''just look at how many people are working on the yugoslavia files
in the ec, compared with somalia,'' said one msf official.

the european community's representative in mogadishu was
recalled several months ago as violence in the civil war which has
gripped the country for the last 20 months, escalated. no ec
member state has any representative in the country, which is why
there is a general lack of accurate information coming out, says
mcgowan.

but he insists that the ec is by far the largest donor of
humanitarian aid to somalia. over the past 18 months the ec has
contributed over 40 million european currency units (52 million
dollars) in humanitarian aid and 20 million ecus (26 million
dollars) worth of logistical support.(end/ips/ip/dp/cpg/92)




-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois