UN Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, H E Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi addressing the event.
UN Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, H E Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi, praised Qatar’s role in supporting the Somali Republic and the interaction shown by the government and Qatari humanitarian organisations in the crisis there.
In a press statement on the sidelines of the workshop, which was hosted by the Foreign Ministry, Dr Al Muraikhi said that the security situation in Somalia has a significant impact on the delivery of aid and represents a great challenge for its beneficiaries.
He stressed the importance of the role played by relief organisations of the UN and charitable organisations operating in Somalia, noting that the UN is in constant contact and coordination with the Somali government to reduce the impact of the humanitarian crisis there and mitigate its effects and consequences.
The envoy said that the workshop aims to bring together the actors from Qatar and its counterparts from the UN organisations to coordinate with each other to overcome the obstacles facing efforts to provide assistance to Somalia.
“There is a significant progress in the development process in Somalia, whose government is recently cooperating with the UN humanitarian organisations and is making great efforts to achieve peace and provide facilities for humanitarian organisations working there,” he said.
Dr Al Muraikhi stressed that the goal of the humanitarian organisations in the UN is to eradicate the famine in Somalia and to seek to ensure that it does not occur, noting that there is an urgent need to provide assistance to the affected people, especially those who lost their source of livelihood.
Dr Al Muraikhi added that UN organisations are working with the World Bank to provide a balance between development and humanitarian assistance, and to enhance cooperation and effective coordination between humanitarian organisations and development funds.
During the workshop, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Representative in Somalia, Peter de Clercq, reviewed the efforts of Qatar in its ongoing support for Somali people, pointing out that the Qatari assistance to Somalia plays a key role in helping the UN play its role in achieving the goals of the Somali government and its national development plan.
Peter de Clercq gave a detailed account of the humanitarian situation in Somalia and efforts to ensure that it is not hit by famine due to droughts, focusing on efforts and long-term development programmes by Gulf governments and the United Nations to find out the causes of humanitarian crises in Somalia, including food security and displacement.
“Somalia is going through a critical economic and social stage,” he said, stressing that expanding humanitarian aid had prevented famine, but that parts of the country were still at risk. An estimated 6.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, Urgent need for relief aid.
The UNDP representative in Somalia said that humanitarian assistance reaches more than 3 million people per month as a result of monitoring more than a billion dollars since the beginning of this year of this assistance, but he said that there are several sectors need more support, including food security and sources of income to avoid Famine during the last quarter of this year.
