UN, Somalia needs $2.2bn for reconstruction
AFP
May 29, 2007
KAMPALA -- Somalia needs $2.2 billion for reconstruction and the restoration of peace, a UN envoy said Tuesday, as fighting continued in the lawless African nation.
Of the total, $1.093 billion would be used for poverty reduction programs, $666 million in social services, and $462 million in security and governance issues, said UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche.
The UN envoy told 60 delegates from Somali non-governmental organizations and international aid groups that the funds would help rebuild the country wracked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
"They [delegates] are trying to make a diagnosis and find the strategies that include sequencing of priorities to lift the lives of the Somali people out of a humanitarian situation and into one of recovery, reconstruction, and development," he told reporters.
Foreign donors were expected to raise the $2.2 billion, he said.
Almost daily attacks have continued in Mogadishu since Ethiopian-backed government forces defeated Islamist and clan fighters in the Somali capital Mogadishu in April after weeks of heavy fighting.
The Somali government is hoping to organize a broad reconciliation conference in Mogadishu June 14, which has been delayed twice due to insecurity and a lack of funds.
