Somalia Remains 'Too Dangerous' for UN, Annan Says

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 28, 2002

Somalia Remains 'Too Dangerous' for UN, Annan Says

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Somalia remains too dangerous to open a U.N. office, but the world body promises to undertake more efforts to promote the peace process in the war- torn country, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday.

"Somalia remains one of the most dangerous environments in which the United Nations operates," Annan said in a report to the U.N. Security Council, which had pressed the U.N. leader to open a peace-building mission in the capital, Mogadishu.

"Security conditions for United Nations staff vary radically from place to place and are difficult to predict. In particular, the security situation in Mogadishu does not allow for a long-term United Nations presence," he said, based on the findings of a security mission sent there in late January.

While officials in most of the areas visited by the mission offered verbal assurances of safety for U.N. staff and property, the assurances "were of varying degree of credibility," Annan said.

While the transitional national government in place since August 2000 "has expanded its influence" in recent months, it still controls only part of the capital and its authority does not yet extend even to Mogadishu's air and sea ports, Annan said.

Annan said various warlords had chastised the world body for favoring the transitional government in handing out humanitarian and development aid and warned the United Nations could get caught in the middle of clashes over aid allocation.

In addition, militia buildups in the south and northeast could further undermine stability in those areas, he said.

The security mission was therefore of the view that while many parts of Somalia may now be ready for expanded U.N. programs, the current U.N. security regime must be continued for the time being, he said.

U.N. international staffers currently administer U.N. programs in the country from nearby Nairobi, although some 400 locally hired staff work on projects throughout the country.

Most of Somalia has been a chaotic patchwork of small and occasionally warring fiefdoms since 1991, when rival warlords ousted President Siad Barre in 1991.

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