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The UN says fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian-backed
government forces in the capital, Mogadishu, has forced 600,000
people to flee the capital.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says that is just hype.
But UN special envoy for Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdallah says he
trusts the word of aid agencies on the ground.
"I believe that what my colleagues from humanitarian
[organisations] do is usually accurate, though in Somalia we have no
international presence to attest the accuracy of these figures," he
said.
UN exaggerating Somalia situation: Zenawi
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in
a BBC interview broadcast Thursday, accused UN agencies of
exaggerating the humanitarian and security emergency in Somalia, a
country increasingly running adrift in the face of an insurgency.
The UN says ferocious fighting between joint Ethiopia-Somali
forces and insurgents in the capital Mogadishu, which has displaced
at 600,000 people, has spurred Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis.
"At the moment some UN agencies appear to be doing damage in
respect of parroting totally unfounded reports by some agencies
without in any way trying to verify the facts," Meles said.
"The situation there, as hard as it is, it could do with less
hype and exaggeration," he added.
Meles, whose troops at the beginning of the year helped oust an
Islamist movement from the country’s southern and central region
where it had ruled briefly, rejected accusations that his forces
were deliberately firing at civilians.
"There has not been any indiscriminate firing on our side because
it would be completely suicidal for us to engage in such an
activity," the premier explained, around a year since his forces
ventured into Somalia.
"Our intention is to give space to recreate the Somali state -
you do not create the Somali state by firing indiscriminately into
civilian areas and civilian targets," he added.
"Nevertheless, its quite true that when you fight in build-up
areas, there are bound to be civilian casualties and these are
extremely regrettable."
The Ethiopian army has in the past accused Islamist-led
insurgents of targeting civilians, notably in the capital’s volatile
Bakara market area.
The United Nations agencies say around 1.5 million people are in
need of emergency humanitarian supplies across the divided,
war-shattered African nation.
Aid groups have said the insecurity is choking their efforts to
deliver supplies.
The African Union has only deployed 1,600 troops from Uganda of
the 8,000 it planned to send to bolster President Abdullahi Yusuf
Ahmed’s feeble government, as well as secure humanitarian
operations.
"I understand why the African Union does not have the resources
to fulfill its promise. But I hope that those who have the resources
will support the African Union so they can deploy the peacekeeping
troops," he said.
Asked if the Ethiopian forces would withdraw if there were half
the number the AU peacekeepers, Meles said: "That would go along way
in making an appropriate environment for us to withdraw."
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council renewed its call for the
world body to pursue contingency planning for deploying a
peacekeeping force in the country, and expressed "grave concern" at
the humanitarian situation in Somalia.
The Council demanded that "all parties in Somalia ensure
unfettered access for all humanitarian assistance and calls on them
to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations under
international humanitarian law."