U.N. and U.S. Meet To Bring Relief to Tsunami Victims in Africa

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U.N. and U.S. Meet To Bring Relief to Tsunami Victims in Africa

Donors in Nairobi plan damage assessment for Puntland region

28 December 2004

By Jim Fisher-Thompson

Washington File Staff Writer

 

Washington – The United States and other international donors met with U.N. officials in Nairobi, Kenya, December 28 to discuss relief efforts for East Africans affected by the earthquake-provoked tsunami that struck South Asia, killing thousands in Indonesia, Thailand and other nations. Representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) met with the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to discuss relief for the Somalia area. Press reports indicate that the Puntland region may have been hardest hit by the tsunami, which was caused by a tremendous undersea earthquake off Sumatra, thousands of miles from the African coast. As many as 100 African fishermen in greater Somalia may have been lost, according to the BBC.

 

A U.S. government official told the Washington File that a decision was reached at the Nairobi meeting to dispatch a disaster assessment team to the Somalia region ‘that will include Americans†-- a necessary prerequisite to the “disaster declaration†USAID needs to free up emergency funds authorized by U.S. law. Such a declaration has already been made for Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives, freeing up $15 million for immediate relief efforts.

 

In Africa, the official said, the problem is that “we and other donor nations do not recognize any government in Somalia or Puntland, so information about damage caused by the tsunami is sketchy. That is why we are working with the U.N. to get an on-the-ground reading of what needs to be done to bring relief to the region.â€

 

Following the collapse in the early 1990s of Somalia’s central government, clan warfare precipitated a widespread famine that brought a U.N.-U.S.-led intervention that ended in 1993. Since then the country has been divided into three parts -- Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland -- none of which are recognized by most Western nations.

 

According to a report by Somalia/USAID nongovernmental organization partners, confirmed by UNOCHO, more than 60 people were killed by the tsunami in Puntland, and the town of Hafuun was completely destroyed and is now surrounded by water. Approximately 1,000 families have moved from the coastal area to higher ground.

 

It was reported that UNOCHA headquarters in Geneva might call for an international appeal for emergency assistance to the Africa region.

 

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)