Aid agencies warn about Somalia

Forty local and international aid agencies warned Tuesday of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in war-ravaged Somalia if world leaders do not "urgently focus their attention" on the Horn of Africa country.

The organizations made the call in a joint statement released a day before the United Nations Security Council is to discuss Somalia.

In addition to soaring food prices, inflation and drought in large parts of Somalia, the country has more than 1 million people displaced from their homes, said the groups, which include Save the Children, World Vision, Oxfam and the International Medical Corps.

Violence in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, forces about 20,000 people to flee their homes every month, the groups said.

An impoverished nation of 7 million, Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on one another. The current transitional government — formed with U.N. help in 2004 — has struggled to assert any real control.

"For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten," the aid agencies said, urging the "international community and all parties to the conflict to urgently focus their attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Somalia."

The organizations listed obstacles that limit their humanitarian work, such as administrative delays, restrictions or delays of goods, attacks on humanitarian workers, carjackings and piracy.

Currently, there are 396 checkpoints and roadblocks in Somalia, compared to 147 in January 2007, the statement said.

A group of EU diplomats visited Mogadishu on Tuesday to show support for the Somali government's recent announcement to talk with all its opponents, including Islamic militants.

The EU is committed to helping "the government in implementing an all-inclusive political dialogue with the opposition," said Elisabeth Barbier, the French ambassador who led the delegation.

__

Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul contributed to this report.