From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: SOMALIA: EC ministers fly into Moga
Date: 11 Sep 92 13:47:59 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Originator: barnhart@gagme

Reference: Europe, western
Title: SOMALIA: EC ministers fly into Mogadishu on Friday


brussels, sep 2 (ips/shada islam) -- a high-level european
community (ec) ministerial team arrives in somalia on friday to
review international relief efforts to combat famine in the war-
torn east african state.

british foreign minister douglas hurd will lead the ec mission
which will also include portugal's development minister jose
barroso and the danish foreign minister uffe elleman-jensen.

the three men, forming an ec ''troika'' of present, past and
future presidents of the ec council of ministers are currently
touring south africa in a bid to help restart the stalled multi-
party talks on constitutional reform.

details of the trip to somalia are being kept secret for security
reasons. but ec officials in brussels say the ministers will be in
the somalian capital of mogadishu for one day -- to get a clearer
picture of the food aid distribution and security problems.

another team of ec development ministers is expected to make a
two-day trip to somalia on sep. 12 and 13.

the ec has come under strong criticism for not acting forcefully
and rapidly enough to stave off the food crisis in somalia even
though officials are at pains to stress that the ec has already
sent food and medical aid worth over 70 billion dollars to the
country.

but relief workers, aid experts and european parliamentarians
attending a special session of the european parliament's
development committee held in brussels wednesday called for a
''substantial increase'' in ec aid to somalia.

the committee warned that despite recent international moves to
step up aid, assistance levels were still ''inadequate''. ec
development experts say that up to 3.5 million somalis are facing
acute food shortages because of the combined effects of drought
and civil war.

for the moment, getting food to the starving people is the
biggest problem. attacks on food convoys and relief workers by
armed gangs pose a major threat to the aid programme, the ec
stresses.

aid workers say that food aid is now looted by the gunmen who
rule somalia and up to half of all supplies never reach the needy.
''the problem is no longer food nor money. it's distribution of
aid,''an ec spokesperson said. (more/ips)

somalia: ec ministers fly into mogadishu on friday(2-e)

somalia: ec (2)

somalia has been ravaged by a vicious civil war for most of the
last 20 months with the various clans -- which united to drive out
dictator mohammed siad barre -- having since turned against one
another in an orgy of ethnic hatred.

instead of trying to flood somalia with food, the international
community should try and work out a plan to provide aid workers
with armed protection to improve food distribution, according to
peter pooley, the ec's deputy director general for development.

''that would be the better and braver way,'' pooley insisted at
the parliamentary committee meeting. ''we will not press non-
governmental organisations (involved in distributing food aid in
somalia) further as long as we have no protection.''

the ec has so far steered away from suggestions that it should
provide armed protection for relief workers to ensure the safe
distribution of food aid in somalia.

but sources in brussels say ec development commissioner manuel
marin is now considering a proposal under which the ec could
finance the dispatching of up to 500 united nations-sponsored
armed paratroopers to protect relief agencies working in the
country.

the plan -- which may be turned down by ec states -- would
dovetail with u.n. efforts to distribute food aid with the help of
armed guards, sources said.

the ec is anxious to appease critics who say it has been too busy
with its internal political problems, and the war in yugoslavia to
pay attention to the crisis in somalia.

michael aaronson, overseas director of the save the children
relief agency, told the european parliament's development
committee that the ec must use its ''political muscle'' to
organise a coordinated international aid effort in somalia.

''while somalia starves, the world fails to organise itself,''
said aaronson. ''so far there has been no strategic thinking about
overcoming the food and security problems in a coordinated
fashion.''

belgium's former prime minister wilfried martens, who was in
somalia and kenya recently to visit refugee camps, told the
committee that ''war and famine feed on each other in somalia''.

european parliamentarians also criticised the united nations for
failing to take a ''strategic overview'' of somalia's problems.
''there's been a lack of political will,'' said one mp.
(end/ips/ip/si/cpg/92)


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