Somalia: Ambassador Delaurentis At U.N. Security Council Briefing On Country

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Remarks by Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations, at the Security Council Briefing on Somalia, January 11, 2012
Thank you, Madame President. We welcome you to the Council today as well as the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, and we thank you both for your statements.
I would like to thank African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Lamamra and Under-Secretary-General Pascoe for their briefings. I also would like to thank the distinguished ministers of Kenya and Uganda for their presentations, as well as for the deep commitment and valuable support their countries have shown to Somalia. Working closely with representatives of troop-contributing countries, the joint UN-AU assessment mission has done excellent work in providing the basis for the briefings we've heard today.
Madame President, Somalia continues to face Africa's most complex challenges. Although famine conditions have eased in some parts of the country, 3.7 million Somalis are still in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly one million Somalis live in exile, and 1.5 million are displaced and experiencing famine conditions. All parties must ensure immediate and unfettered access to those in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. We would like to thank member states for their generous support of the UN's 2011 Somalia Consolidated Appeal, which was funded at 82 percent. Still, there are many gaps. For example, the protection cluster was only funded at 17 percent, thwarting efforts to better protect vulnerable women and girls. The recently launched 2012 Consolidated Appeal requests $1.5 billion. The United States urges member states to support this appeal. Total U.S. humanitarian assistance to the region since October 1, 2010 is $870 million, $205 million of which has been used for Somalia. Meanwhile, Al-Shabaab continues its despicable acts, including suicide bombings, attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, and the expulsion of humanitarian organizations at the height of the world's gravest humanitarian catastrophe.Continued