"When People Are Mad, They Start to React" to Corruption

José Domingo Guariglia interviews Brazilian corruption map creator RAQUEL DINIZ
There are enough digital tools for citizens to participate in political decision-making, says Raquel Diniz.

Photo Credit: Bernardo Gutiérrez/Courtesy Raquel Diniz

NEW YORK, Aug 30, 2011 (IPS) - The fight against corruption has taken centre stage in the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and has led to the resignation or dismissal of several ministers over just a few months.

Civil society groups in Brazil are using digital media to protest against corruption, which is so deeply rooted in politics and economics that it is costing this South American country 43 billion dollars a year, according to the latest report by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), published in May 2010.

Over a few short days, a post on the Facebook social networking site convening a rally in Rio de Janeiro Sept. 20, under the slogan "Todos unidos contra a corrupção" (Everyone United against Corruption) has attracted positive responses from 13,130 people.

But merely protesting is not enough. Citizens also have a role to play in watching over public resources and denouncing cases of misappropriation of funds, said Raquel Diniz, a journalist, filmmaker, and creator of the Mapa Colaborativo da Corrupção do Brasil, an online collaborative map of corruption in Brazil, in this interview with IPS.

"My idea was for people to take some sort of action, that would lead them to realise the seriousness of the problem, and to fight for a country free of corruption," she said in response to questions by email.

Her corruption map, which has been on-line since May, was inspired by maps designed in Spain by the NOLESVOTES (Don't Vote For Them) movement, the map of People's Party (PP) corruption, and the map used by the "Indignant" movement to plan protest camps at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and in other Spanish cities, which led to the formation of the May 15 (15M) Movement.

Supporters of Diniz's map site are determined to use it to deliver a message of rebuke to the ruling elite.

"Politicians haven't really caught on to the idea; they are too far away, isolated in their shiny office blocks," Diniz said. "Sooner or later they will have to understand that everything has changed. Those who govern must hand over some of their power so that society can be truly democratic."

Map users can pinpoint the geographic location of cases of corruption that have been documented in the press, building up a collective memory that, in theory, will help citizens to access more information about politicians before voting for them in future elections.

Q: Why is it important to have a map of corruption in Brazil?

A: It's an opportunity for people to be informed about corruption cases, to participate in producing the map, in order to stimulate interest in the issue. It's very important that people should get angry when they see the map. I think when people are mad, they begin to want to change things and to fight back against corruption.

Corruption in Brazil is extremely serious, but people are so accustomed to corruption scandals that they seldom take action to change the practice, which is so common among politicians, the police, and therefore society as a whole.

Q: There are similar tools in the region to report and map crime and violence. Where did you get the idea from?

A: I went to live in Spain just as the 2008 economic crisis broke out. I saw the rise of many movements against the government, and the immense growth of communication via social networks. Then I found out about the NOLESVOTES Movement's corruption map, and the map on corruption perpetrated by the PP, the most conservative party in Spain, posted by Leo Bassi (a well-known Spanish leftwing journalist) on his PPLeaks web page.

I came back to Brazil and kept in touch with the growth of the 15M Movement. When I came across a Google map people could use to set up a virtual encampment at the Puerta del Sol (in Madrid), I realised that the Arab world and Europe were living through a time of profound social transformation, whereas here in Brazil it was the reverse. The vast majority of Brazilians are happy with the country's macroeconomic growth and turn their backs on social problems.

The same morning, an environmentalist couple who lived in the (northern) Amazon region were murdered, and that afternoon the lower chamber of Congress approved an amendment to the Forest Code, legalising the use of illegally deforested land which formerly had been protected reserves.

I was extremely angry that day. I felt I had to do something, and I created the map.

Q: What are the main results?

A: The main result was coverage in the principal Brazilian newspapers, and people hearing about the map and helping to construct it. My idea was to prompt people to take some sort of action that would lead them to understand the seriousness of the problem and to fight for a country free from corruption.

As it is an open access site, I always recommend that every post should carry references to articles published in the press, so that the posted data have credibility.

Brazil has a great record of investigating corruption cases, but corrupt people hardly ever go to prison. Any who are convicted just pay a fine and are released, and then they stand as candidates in the next elections. Many of them are voted into office again and exercise power!

Q: In your view, is the internet an effective tool for citizens and government to communicate with each other?

A: It could be very effective, because it's a channel for mutual interaction and the sharing of information. There are enough digital tools in the web 2.0 world, many of them with open access, for citizens to be able to participate in political decision-making.

It would be very easy to institute participative democracy systems for making political decisions, but we are all only just getting to know this new way of interacting.

Politicians haven't really caught on to the idea; they are too far away, isolated in their shiny office blocks. Sooner or later they will have to understand that everything has changed. Those who govern must hand over some of their power so that society can be truly democratic.

Q: Several studies have reported that Latin America is a leader in the use of social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Why do you think this is so?

A: People in Latin America are more sociable than those on other continents; they like to get to know people. Also, society here is very hierarchical, so there are few mechanisms for the social base to participate in building and running the country. The mass media are controlled by the elite, and are dependent on political advertising. The social networks, in a way, are a substitute for traditional mass media.

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UN Sustainability Conference will congregate 2,000 NGOs representatives

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26- The 64th Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference will set a new record of participation with 2,000 expected NGOs representatives from more than 100 countries, the Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Public Information (DPI), Kiyo Akasaka, told reporters Friday.

Akasaka remembered the conference will take place this year between 3-5 September in Bonn, Germany, and will focus on sustainable development and volunteerism under the name “Sustainable Societies: Responsive Citizens”. He also said that a large number of young people and students will be involved in order to get ideas to poverty eradication through the establishment of a “green economy”.

The United Nations DPI/NGO Conference will work as a preparation for the Rio+20 Conference that will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012. At the same time, the meeting celebrates the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, Ambassador Miguel Berger, said his country is “extremely glad” that Bonn has been chosen to host the conference and that they are ready to receive all the participants and to activate many side events.

Berger explained that Bonn is the UN city in Germany, because 16 UN organizations and offices that work in the field of sustainable development and environment are located there. “This will be a lively and interactive event”, he said.

The Chief of the Partnerships and Communications Division of the UN Volunteers programme in Bonn, Donna Keher, emphasized the importance of the world “sustainability”. “If the next generations have to benefit from development, then development has to be sustainable”, she remarked.

In order to create sustainability, Keher called the civil society to actively participate with the governments and institutions. “People must involve, we need volunteers. This conference is showing the importance of partnership and the value of working together”, she expressed.

The UN DPI/NGO Conference will be the first of three meetings that will take place in Germany between September and November, as confirmed by the Chair of the Conference Felix Dodds.

Among the challenges the three meetings and Rio+20 will have to face, Dodds remembered climate change, food and water security, the consumption model and the disparity between developed and developing countries. Outcome documents are expected to come after each event.

Hurricane Irene

My report in Spanish for the Venezuelan TV network Globovision


Transporte púbilco suspendido en Nueva York by Globovision

NGOs Must Play Key Role in Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development

Jose Domingo Guariglia interviews MICHAEL RENNER, of Worldwatch Institute

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Michael Renner

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26, 2011 (IPS) - As the United Nations readies for a major international conference on sustainable development next June in Brazil, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are preparing to play a key role in the run-up to the summit meeting and are preparing a plan of action to be adopted by world leaders.

The Rio+20 conference will take place 20 years after the historic Earth Summit in Brazil in June 1992.

Asked about the importance of NGO contributions, Michael G. Renner, senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute told IPS, "I think the answer is still outstanding. It will depend on how successful NGOs are in ensuring that the conference has adequate visibility in the public eye."

He said NGOs need to make sure that the conference is not seen as disconnected from people’s daily concerns.

A series of NGO meetings are scheduled to take place in the coming months, including one sponsored by the U.N.’s Department of Public Information in Bonn, Germany, Sep. 3-5.

In an interview with IPS, Renner said that mainstream media often either ignore U.N. conferences or portray them as only of interest to U.N. "bureaucrats" and policy wonks.

So, NGOs need to be an effective bridge: translate specialist lingo into language that is meaningful to people in communities around the world, and at the same time carry grassroots concerns into the conference.

They also need to ensure that the conference is not an isolated event. The time before and after the conference is as important as the conference itself.

Excerpts from the interview follow:

Q: Why is it important to have another Conference on Sustainable Development?

A: The Rio 2012 conference presents an opportunity to take stock of both the progress that has been made and the goals that remain unmet. It offers a unique political opening to review and refresh commitments and promote new modes of international cooperation to address some of the most pressing issues of the century.

By and large, the environmental trends since 1992 have not been encouraging, and so we need fresh commitments, and a reassessment of which policies work and which don’t.

Clearly, this is not just a "technical" assessment, but in large part a deeply political exercise. Since the first Rio conference, we have heard much rhetoric about relying on market tools and mechanisms. But if governments don’t provide an overall framework, then they are simply abdicating their responsibilities. And if the public cannot hold governments and corporations accountable, then commitments may never properly be translated into action.

The conference is simply a means to an end, training the spotlight on where we have succeeded and where we have failed. I don’t so much look to the speeches that will be given or official communiqués that will be released. What’s more important is to create a renewed sense of forward momentum, to forge new partnerships and alliances, and to empower those who all too often are relegated to sidelines.

Q: What do you think are the new and emerging challenges the world is facing regarding the environment?

A: I think less in terms of new challenges than about the need to think in more interdisciplinary ways. We are by now quite aware of the various strands of the environmental challenge, such as climate change, declining biodiversity, growing water scarcity, and so on. We need to get better at understanding how these strands are interwoven and that we may be in for growing surprises. Environmental change is not linear, but full of unexpected discontinuities and feedback loops.

An important aspect of the Rio 2012 conference is environmental governance. Mention this, and many people will think it means creating an arcane bureaucratic structure. But what is really required is that we challenge our compartmentalised world.

We can’t properly address environmental challenges if we assume that it’s a job for the environment ministries of the world alone. The causes and the impacts are multi-faceted, and policies at other ministries - economics, finance, science and technology, labour, foreign affairs, to name just a few - must evolve accordingly.

We have to figure out ways to overcome the walls that separate the different turfs, not to mention the borders that separate us into competing nation states. Clearly, a single conference is not going to accomplish this, but the discussions in Rio can help connect the dots.

Q: The U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development will take place in June 2012, 20 years after the original Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This time the focus will be put on building a green economy and sustainable development governance. What are the main advances in these areas since 1992?

A: An important advance is that concepts like ‘Green Economy’ or ‘Green Jobs’ have entered the lexicon as accepted terms. For too many years, the discussion focused on whether the pursuit of environmental goals would be detrimental to the economy and to employment. But it has become clear that environmental protection and economic wellbeing do not have to be mutually exclusive goals.

In fact, economic wellbeing will increasingly depend on pursuing technologies that reduce humanity’s overall footprint, and a transition of economic and social structures toward greater sustainability.

That’s not to say the discussion is over, far from it. In some countries, such as the United States, the public discourse has suffered reversals. There is also the question of what is meant by green economy. As with other terms, such as sustainable development, there is a certain danger that it will come to mean highly different things to different people.

‘Green growth’ is now often seen as the goal, sidestepping the question whether continued expansion of the physical economy can go on unchecked, or whether there is a need to more fundamentally rethink how the economy functions. Greater efficiency in the use of energy and materials are important, but these gains might be cancelled out through higher levels of consumption.

Q: What comes after the Rio+20 Conference? What’s next?

A: As always, there is the challenge of making good on the speeches and declarations - to ensure that a conference like this is not just a one-time event with no meaningful follow-up. So, the work must continue. And in some ways, what happens in the corridors between conference sessions - making new connections, building new alliances - may well be even more important than what happens during the sessions. I regard the conference as an opportunity to create momentum, but the momentum then needs to be sustained.

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The World Humanitarian Day honours aid workers

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

The Humanitarian Day 2011 “People Helping People” celebrates the work of all those who risk their lives to help others and it is also a way to remember those who are still in pain or struggling to live, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, told in a special event with the Secretary General Friday.

She explained that this year’s celebration goes beyond the previous Humanitarian Days to focus on aid workers and their stories. “We celebrate the work of thousands of aid workers”, Amos said

The Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, supported Amos’ speech saying the World Humanitarian Day is dedicated to those who chose to save someone else’s life in spite of differences in gender, religion or race. He underlined the efforts of many aid workers in countries that are living under conflict like Afghanistan, Haiti, Japan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

“Wherever there are people in need, there are people who help them – men and women coming together to ease suffering and bring hope”, the Secretary-General said.

Regarding Somalia and the general situation in the Horn of Africa, both Ban and Amos remembered that humanitarian efforts have not been enough to deal with the situation and that more than 1 billion dollars are still needed to face the drought and famine that has affected more than 12 million people.

“We need to keep the attention focused on the Horn of Africa”, Amos stressed.

She also announced that the United Nations and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) started a global campaign about the situation on the Horn of Africa and that a special mini summit about the topic will be held at the UN General Assembly on September 24th.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed the World Humanitarian Day on 19 August 2008 to commemorate the killing of 22 UN staff members in 2003, after the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq. More than 150 people were also wounded on the attack.

Citizens Chart Crime Using Online Maps

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

NEW YORK, Aug 19, 2011 (IPS) - "I was walking down the street, talking on my cell phone, when a guy on a motorbike came by and grabbed the phone out of my hand. I ran after him but I couldn't catch him. He had probably been following me."

This message, from a person who had his cell phone stolen in the southern Brazilian city of São Paulo, was posted on WikiCrimes, a web site where citizens who have lost confidence in the effectiveness of police action can report crimes directly.

WikiCrimes in Brazil, and similar initiatives in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, provide interactive maps that people can use to anonymously report crimes, describe what happened and pinpoint the location. In this way, crime mapping identifies danger zones - crime hotspots - within a region with generally high crime rates, to enhance people's awareness, preparedness and safety.

According to a report on Citizen Security and Human Rights, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in early 2010 Latin America was the region with the highest average murder rate in the world, 25.6 per 100,000 population. Young people aged 15-29 were the most frequent victims, with a murder rate of 68.9 per 100,000 people in this age group.

The crime maps seek to supplement the paucity of official crime reports at police stations, and to guide implementation of policies to fight crime, Vasco Furtado, a systems engineer who created WikiCrimes, told IPS.

"It's very common nowadays to hear about someone who has been mugged, but who is not going to report it to the police because they are convinced nothing would be done. Surveys of victims of crime in Brazilian cities show that under-reporting in the most densely populated areas may be as high as 60 percent for some offences," he said.

WikiCrimes receives crime reports from around the world, although most originate in Brazil.

In Venezuela, crime data maps can be accessed at the VicTEAMS and QuieroPaz sites.

VicTEAMS was created in 2009 in reaction to the thousands of hold-ups, kidnappings and murders committed in Venezuela, and especially in the capital, Caracas, considered the second most dangerous city in Latin America after Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, according to a study by the Mexican Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSP-JP).

An online Crime Map of Mexico City was created by the newspaper El Universal, and a Buenos Aires province "map of insecurity" was funded by Argentine businessman and centre-right lawmaker Francisco de Narváez.

Crime map sites have also been set up in Chile and Panama. The Chilean crime map distinguishes between official crime reports and online reports from citizens, and Mi Panamá Transparente (My Transparent Panama), created by a group of journalists and non-governmental organisations, widens the focus to include swindles and corruption.

The crime problem in Venezuela is exacerbated by the lack of official statistics, said Ángel Méndez, a consultant at Tendencias Digitales, a firm that carries out market research in the field of information technology.

"Venezuela is one of the most violent countries in Latin America, and unfortunately there are no official statistics to monitor the violence. Body counts from the morgues are published in the media every Monday, but there is no crime database available," Méndez told IPS.

Citizens as agents of change

According to VicTEAMS, online maps are a useful tool towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets adopted in 2000 by the international community to drastically reduce poverty, hunger, inequality, illness, mortality and environmental degradation across the globe by 2015.

The team responsible for crafting the web site attended an international workshop on "Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the MDGs", organised by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the government of the Spanish region of Catalonia in the regional capital, Barcelona, in June 2010.

The meeting produced the Barcelona Declaration on "The Critical Role of Public Service in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals", stating that "citizens' engagement has to be considered to accelerate the progress towards reaching the MDGs," and governments should work alongside citizens to address social problems proactively.

Wider access to the internet in Latin American countries has been crucial to the rise of online tools like crime maps. Governments and NGOs in the region are promoting free or low-cost access to information and communication technologies for low-income sectors of the population.

A Brazilian government programme called Computers for Inclusion, and the Infocentres that provide access and computer literacy courses in Venezuela, are typical of such initiatives.

Crime maps and the problem of data accuracy

The interactive capability of crime maps and other online tools can hinder their effectiveness, due to incomplete or inaccurate crime reporting.

"At WikiCrimes we are concerned about false reporting. It is up to users to provide the system with information that boosts its credibility. Links can be added to videos, newspapers, photos or any other document that supports the informant's credibility," Furtado said.

On interactive crime maps, the incidents reported depend on the goodwill of citizens, but cooperation with government agencies can be decisive.

"The authorities do not view WikiCrimes as their ally, because it challenges the status quo. They are afraid of being pressured by society," said Furtado.

Academics like Iria Puyosa, an expert on social networking and social capital, say "the problem of violent crime in Latin America will not be solved by online maps," which are useful to a limited extent, for fighting invisibility and the absence of information, she told IPS.

The impact of social networks

The connections between the worldwide web and other innovative technology, like cell phones, favour online crime reporting. According to information from Tendencias Digitales, 27 percent of internet access is dialled up by mobile phone in countries like Venezuela, and a large proportion of citizens use smart phones to report crimes or traffic conditions, via Twitter.

In fact, Latin America is the world's second region for users of social networks like Facebook and Twitter as a proportion of the population, after North America, according to SocialTimes, an information source on social media.

The July 2011 Web 2.0 Ranking produced by Tendencias Digitales named Chile, Brazil and Venezuela as the top three Latin American countries for social media use.

"We are more inclined to sharing and paying attention to what people are saying. For instance, Facebook penetration, measured as a percentage of the population, is 26 percent in Latin America compared to 20 percent worldwide. Performing the same calculation for Twitter, we find its penetration in Venezuela is eight percent, compared to three percent for Latin America and the rest of the world," said Méndez, quoting figures from the study.

Twitter accounts like @SINviolenciaMX (violence-free Mexico) foster the development of a user network where people can both post and receive information about crime zones or traffic jams.

However, Puyosa stressed that messages from smart phones or social networks cannot be regarded as "real" crime reports.

"Effective denunciation of a crime, with the aim of evoking a law enforcement response, must be made formally to the police. Victims may vent their feelings of frustration via Twitter or Facebook, but these are not effective channels for reporting crime," she said.

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"Governments Must Listen to the People, Not the Polluters"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews DANIEL MITTLER, Political Director of Greenpeace International


Photo :Martin Horak

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8, 2011 (IPS) - The historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro marked one of the world's seminal international conferences on the environment, creating or reinforcing a slew of U.N. treaties and protocols on climate change, biodiversity, desertification and forests.

Still, nearly 20 years later, as the United Nations prepares for a follow-up Rio Plus 20 conference in Brazil next June, the Earth Summit's successes and failures are coming under increased scrutiny.

In an interview with IPS, the political director of Greenpeace International, Daniel Mittler, said that since the Rio summit, governments have clearly failed to make any advances on sustainable development governance.

"They have created powerful new laws to protect the interests of business, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but they have failed to provide the poor and the environment with the kind of institutional support they need," he said.

"The green economy is starting to happen. However, we know that the transition is not fast enough," Mittler added.

The upcoming Rio Plus 20 conference in Brazil is expected to promote actions to guarantee that economic activities will not further harm the environment and a new institutional framework that will allow sustainability in a long term.

In the run-up to the conference, representatives of civil society will meet in Bonn Sep. 3-5 at a U.N. Conference for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), that will discuss the topic "Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens".

"NGOs need to hold governments and business to account, and they need to provide ideas for solutions, and also organise public support for delivering concrete steps forward for people and the environment," Mittler said.

Greenpeace will participate in this NGO conference to make sure that "governments and businesses are ready to respond to the needs of the poor and the planet rather than dirty industries and their lobbyists," Mittler said.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: The Rio Conference was held in 1992. Ten years later there was another conference in Johannesburg. Why is it important to have a new conference on sustainable development?

A: Conferences themselves are never important. Results are. Big conferences have often failed in recent years. Rio Plus 10 (Johannesburg), for example, adopted what we termed a "Plan of Inaction". That said, global conferences are key hooks for global debates and opportunities to highlight current failures and current and future opportunities. Development since Rio has been everything but sustainable.

If returning to Rio is to make any sense, governments will have to get serious about implementing the many promises of Rio they have broken, business will have to seize the opportunity fair and clean development provides, and dirty lobbyists will have to be exposed for holding us back.

For Greenpeace, Rio Plus 20 will only be important if it delivers real advances for people and the planet.

Q: You have worked with Greenpeace International and Friends of the Earth. What has been the contribution of the NGOs to environmental meetings?

A: NGOs need to hold governments and business to account, need to provide ideas for solutions, and need to organise public support for delivering concrete steps forward for people and the environment.

The discussions about Rio Plus 20 are in many ways only just the beginning. NGOs must engage with them with honesty and stand up against those trying to "greenwash" business as usual and call it "green economy".

NGOs must also resist just doing the kind of campaigns they did 10 and 20 years ago, simply because we have done it before. We must analyse the current situation and choose targeted inputs in those areas that are most likely to see real change.

Q: What are Greenpeace International's suggestions for the Rio Plus 20?

A: We have many. Rio Plus 20 must support an energy revolution based on renewable energy and energy efficiency and providing access to energy for all.

Governments and businesses must commit to zero deforestation by 2020. Developed countries and corporations must end policies and funding that drive deforestation.

Rio Plus 20 must make the transition to a green economy fair and equitable and commit to a decent jobs agenda. It must strengthen the governance system that delivers an "environment for development" by upgrading the U.N. Environment Programme to specialised agency status.

Greenpeace calls for a new implementing agreement under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for the conservation of marine biodiversity and sustainable management of human activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Q: Will Greenpeace be at the conference "Sustainable Societies – Responsive Citizens" that will take place in Bonn?

A: We will be participating and I am looking forward to speaking on one of the panels. Our action plan is what I have just outlined. These action points are the key test cases, whether Rio Plus 20 will move us towards sustainable societies - and whether governments and businesses are ready to respond to the needs of the poor and the planet rather than dirty industries and their lobbyists.

Q. What comes after the Rio Plus 20 Conference?

A: The next big test for the global community will be 2015, when governments will likely have missed many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in many countries.

A global commitment to an economy based on renewables and efficiency, to zero deforestation and the adoption of a legal instrument to protect the high seas - all that could be next, if governments listen to the people rather than polluting corporations.

Clean industries must help us ensure governments stop standing in their way and get serious about the transition to a fair and clean global economy. What's next also depends on all of us. I invite all to go to www.greenpeace.org to join us to hold governments and businesses to account - and to deliver real solutions with all who are willing to do so.

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UN declares famine in three new regions of Somalia

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 3 (IPS)- The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, confirmed that the state of famine in the country was extended to three more areas: the Afgoye Corridor, the capital Mogadishu and Middle Shabelle, the spokesperson of the UN Secretary General, Martin Nesirky, told reporters Wednesday.

Bowden said the measure reflects the UN’s concern for the drastic situation in southern Somalia. He also invited the international community to scale up the aid actions in the country and the whole Horn of Africa region.

With the new announcements, the number of areas that are suffering from famine in Somalia increased to five. In the capital, Mogadishu, famine has been declared due to the huge influx of refugees that have arrived in the last two months.

On 20 July, the United Nations declared famine in Bakool and Lower Shabelle, approximately 400 Km from Mogadishu, after weeks of an intense drought that created the worst emergency in the region in 60 years. The crisis has affected 12,4 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, told reporters Monday that more than 1.4 billion dollars are still needed to face the drought and that famine could spread to five or six more regions. She also encouraged the cooperation from foundations and private companies.

“This will not be a short crisis”, said Valerie Amos at an Emergency Ministerial Meeting held in Rome, Italy, this week. She appointed that the emergency could last for three or four months, at least.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that just 1 billion dollars have been received so far from donors all over the world. Approximately 1,300 Somali refugees arrive to Kenya and several hundred flee to Ethiopia every day.

Humanitarian efforts in Somalia have also been affected in part by the operations of al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda supporting group that banned foreign aid in the country since 2009 and in this case only granted limited access.

UN Requests 1.4 Billion Dollars More to Save Horn of Africa

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1, 2011 (IPS) - More than 1.4 billion dollars are still needed to battle the drought that has hit the Horn of Africa, and in particular Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, UN Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, told reporters Monday

The drought and the lack of food in the Horn of Africa are affecting approximately 12.4 million people, and according to Amos, the famine that was declared in two regions of Somalia could spread to five or six areas if massive aid does not arrive in the next weeks.

She said what is happening in the Horn of Africa should be a "wake up call" and that the drought did not take anybody "by surprise". She also said that cooperation from foundations and private companies will be welcome.

In Somalia, the United Nations has encountered many obstacles providing aid to populations in need primarily due to the presence of armed groups. She said that number of affected people is increasing everyday and the strategy consists in delivering aid to Mogadishu directly.

Particularly, the most urgent aid is for Somali refugees who live in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.

In Southern Kordofan, Sudan, there is no access for UN staff and the work of the humanitarian agencies is "extremely limited". "This will not be a short crisis", said Amos at an Emergency Ministerial Meeting in Rome last week. She predicted the emergency could last for three or four months, at least.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are working directly in the affected areas. The WFP has already airlifted food into zones of Somalia where access was limited.

The African Union also announced the possibility of a summit meeting of world leaders to discuss the situation in Somalia. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that nearly 1 billion dollars have been received so far from donors all over the world to combat the worst drought faced by Africa in 60 years. Approximately 1,300 Somali refugees arrive in Kenya and several hundred flee to Ethiopia every day. (END)