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Koenders steps up emergency aid to Somalia by €3 million

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At the Netherlands' insistence, the European development ministers last week discussed the emergency in Somalia. Dutch development minister Bert Koenders urged the EU to take a more active stance in order to help end the conflict.

 

The Netherlands will donate an additional €3 million to the UN's emergency fund for Somalia. 'The international community is focused on Darfur, and rightly so, but we must not forget Somalia,' the Minister said. Aid workers have warned about the precarious situation of refugees in Somalia. 'Thesituation here is worse than anywhere else in Africa,' said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN special representative to Somalia.

 

Civil war has torn the country for years. The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia earlier this year, intended to end the Islamic insurgency, caused one million people to flee their homes. They now live in deplorable circumstances in refugee camps.

 

Source: Government of the Netherlands, November 27, 2007

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