Over €73m in aid was pledged recently by international donors to help rebuild conflict-ravaged Somalia.
Over €73m in aid was pledged recently by international donors to help rebuild conflict-ravaged Somalia.
Addressing a special conference in London last week, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the country has entered a new period in its history following more than 20 years of conflict.
Although the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al-Shabaab still controls a large part of the country, leaders such as British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Somalia’s progress in reducing piracy and tackling insurgency that arose following the overthrow in 1991 of Siad Barre, the longest-serving president since independence in 1960.
There is much evidence to show that Somalia is witnessing a growth in positive development despite continued sporadic conflicts, and being long regarded as a failed state.
The United Kingdom and other donors are to be commended for their efforts in helping to secure a stable Somalia threatened neither by war nor famine – which claimed as many as 260,000 lives in the two years leading to 2012.
Next on the agenda for Somalia and its supporters – including neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia – must be a strong effort to raise the literacy rate and provide at least a basic education for all. Strong infrastructure and development of natural resources should also be part of any positive outlook for the country.
