SOMALIA: IRIN interview with Randolph Kent, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative and Designated Official for Somalia

NAIROBI, 4 September (IRIN) - With the election of a new president after a decade of civil war and anarchy, the UN Coordination Office is expecting to improve humanitarian access. Because of security problems and kidnappings of relief workers, UN offices and staff for humanitarian projects have concentrated almost exclusively in neighbouring Nairobi. IRIN talked to Randolph Kent, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative and Designated Official for Somalia, about how he now sees the humanitarian situation evolving.

QUESTION: What difference does the election of a Somali president and a transitional national assembly make to the humanitarian community?

ANSWER: I think it makes a tremendous difference on at least three levels. In the first instance we are assuming that, with a government that is seemingly increasingly recognised by the people of Somalia, we will have a partner to push the humanitarian agenda and so be able to bring food to people in all the affected areas. We will have partnership to pursue humanitarian access. I think it is also going to be very important to have a government built upon a concern for the people; no longer will we have to deal with separate groups, who had up to now been antagonistic.

Now we can work with a government that I believe represents the people. Of course, we will have to remember that the government - like ourselves - will still have to deal with security. [We need] the assurance that humanitarian workers not only have access but are themselves safe in providing assistance. I also think that we now have an interlocutor who understands its obligations with regard to the Geneva Convention, humanitarian access, humanitarian assistance and the rights of the Somali people.

Q: Do you think the role of the humanitarian agencies will change because of this ?

A: I think the role of the humanitarian agencies will change in at least three respects. I think in the first instance it will change because we are assuming we will have much increased access to people in need. But I think, far more exciting, the greater we have access the greater the international community sees that access being assured.

So I believe then there will be much better possibilities of rehabilitation and recovery assistance. The humanitarian community will change and now will be able to assist people in far more sustainable ways.

Finally, I also think we will find there will be more and more humanitarian agencies, NGOs, and international organisations who come to assist Somalia. They will see that the Somali people are working together and will afford the opportunity to provide aid to those in need.

Q: So what do you think the main priorities are now?

A: In terms of humanitarian assistance, the main priorities have to be to focus upon effective prevention and preparedness. I think that if we have the access we need, we can, for example, start helping people who live along the banks of the Juba and Shabeelle rivers to try and strengthen embankments so that we do not see yet more floods every October and November. And while the humanitarian community will want to focus more and more upon prevention and preparedness, we will also be able to target our assistance more effectively for those in need.

Therefore women, children, men who do not have the capacity to earn their own living, will be able to be directly assisted more effectively, more consistently, now that peace and stability seem to be coming back to Somalia.

Q: The new president said over the last 10 years there had been quite a bit of chaos in the way that international agencies had operated. Do you agree with that?

A: I think to a very significant extent the new president is right. I think he is right because it is very difficult to coordinate your efforts as a harmonious community when you have to grab the opportunity to assist people at the last minute. [There is chaos] when there is no central authority to work with, who can guide the efforts of the international community.

But at the same time, looking at the 10 years from the UN's point of view, we have become, over time, more coordinated. I think we became more used to the habit of cooperation. Ten years ago that was less the case.

Q: Would it be fair to say , because of the last 10 years, there is virtually no humanitarian presence in Somalia?

A: I am always very impressed by the efforts made by NGOs, as well as UN agencies, to establish a presence to support humanitarian activates in Somalia. If you take a look at Bay and Bakool, or what people try to do in Marka, to some extent in Kismaayo, and even in Mogadishu areas, an awful lot has gone on. Can we do more? Give us the access, give us the presence, give us the resources, we will support the Somali people more.

Q: And you think now we will start seeing more confidence from the donors and the international community?

A: I would hope so. But I think the question is interesting in several respects. First of all, we have to remember that the international community is not just the western donors, that there is an Arab world out there, who has [a] proven interest in supporting its brothers and sisters in Somalia. I think also one has to take a look at the needs of Somalia in terms of new types of donors.

For example, I think private industry would be intrigued by what is going on in Somalia, and its potential. I think we, as links between the Somali authorities and the international communities, should see how best to engage the private sector with the authorities in Somalia. I also think that we should look more and more towards the diaspora. Somalis range across the world - it should be seen how they, as they showed in Arta, can support the Somali peace process and the Somali rebuilding process.

None of this is to say that the western donors - the traditional donors - should not become engaged. I think that if they see what could happen now with this peace process, they will slowly come back. But, in coming back, they should not create more dependency on aid. Aid should be very targeted, should be very specific, and only in support of priorities which the Somali people themselves have pursued, and which the Somali people themselves want to fund.