| 19 May 2007 04:13 SOMALIA WATCH |
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USAID Using Somalia, Sudan Ports Story Filed: Monday, March 13, 2000 5:06 PM EST ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The U.S. aid agency may use ports in Sudan and Somalia, two countries with which the United States has strained or no diplomatic relations, to deliver emergency aid to Ethiopian drought victims, a senior official said Monday. Aid to the 8 million victims in land-locked Ethiopia is currently brought through the port of Djibouti, said Hugh Parmer, assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. But Djibouti cannot handle the amount of food relief due this year in the agency's expanded humanitarian mission. As alternatives, Parmer said the agency is looking at Berbera in northern Somalia, and Port Sudan in Sudan. Somalia has not had a central government since 1991, and Berbera is located in a separatist region that calls itself the Republic of Somaliland, but is not recognized by any country. In 1993, 18 U.S. Army Rangers were killed in the capital, Mogadishu, by Somalis during an abortive attempt to seize a leading warlord. Relations with Sudan, meanwhile, are tense. The United States withdrew its embassy staff in 1996, claiming Khartoum sponsored international terrorism, and relations worsened further after U.S. airstrikes against the country in 1996. Because of Ethiopia's 22-month border conflict with its neighbor, Eritrea, USAID is unable to make use of the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa, which could cope with the 120,000 tons per month of food aid the agency intends to ship in, Parmer said. ``The war makes the logistical situation much more difficult,'' he told The Associated Press. Port Sudan, which would be considered only if Berbera's freight-handling capacity is insufficient, presents political problems and has poor infrastructure. But ``the U.S. government would probably allow it if were really crucial for humanitarian aid,'' Parmer said. Parmer is on a tour of Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti, where some 15 million people are threatened by crop failures resulting from prolonged drought. On Saturday he visits Somalia, becoming the first senior U.S. official to visit Somalia since 1995. Parmer will fly over Berbera on Saturday to assess road conditions from the Somali port to Ethiopia. The number of Ethiopians affected by a two-year drought has risen from 2.2 million to 7.7 million over the last 12 months, according to USAID. The agency is also providing emergency relief to 350,000 displaced people. Copyright © 2000 Associated Press Information Services, all rights reserved. [Back to the top] [ News] |
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