Senior UN aid official warns of disaster in Somalia

GENEVA, June 2 (Reuters) Somalia faces a humanitarian disaster unless Somali militias end fighting that has already claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of people, a United Nations official warned today.

Dennis McNamara, special UN adviser on displacement, also urged Western countries to invest in restoring stability in the lawless country rather than in arming militias.

Some 400,000 displaced people already live in squalid conditions across Somalia, but the figure is rising as thousands are believed to have fled recent fighting in the south, according to the New Zealander.

''Our assessment is this is a potential disaster area, at least from the humanitarian perspective, if it is not contained in the near future,'' McNamara told a briefing in Geneva after completing a 10-day mission to Somalia.

Some 350 people have been killed in three bouts of heavy fighting since the start of the year between fighters allied to Islamic courts and a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition warlords many believe are backed by the United States.

''We're facing in Somalia ... a big investment in the fighting, an investment in instability, particularly in Mogadishu which is very serious and which is leading to a new exodus of displaced Somalis,'' McNamara said.

''We're seeing very little investment in stability, the peace process and trying to get people back to start normal lives. It is a familiar equation,'' the veteran aid official added.

Donors have contributed less than 20 per cent towards a UN appeal of 330 million dollars for Somalia in 2006, McNamara said.

McNamara said he had held ''strong and difficult discussions'' with Somali authorities about their responsibility to provide safe access for humanitarian workers and also protect civilians.

At least 250,000 of the 400,000 displaced are in Mogadishu, where many have lived for up to 15 years in squalid slums that lack basic services, he said.

A food analysis organisation said today the fighting was aggravating an existing humanitarian emergency in the drought-hit country. At least 1.7 million Somalis out of a population of 10 million are affected by drought.

The Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSAU) said while the long rainy season was not yet complete it predicted the emergency in southern Somalia would continue until December.

''If the current outbreak of conflict in Mogadishu is not resolved quickly ... it will continue to disrupt market supplies throughout Southern Somalia,'' the FSAU said.

It said commodity prices were up by between 20 per cent to 30 per cent due to the fighting.

Somalia has been without a central government since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

REUTERS SRS HS2210