Aid group: Somalia in worst crisis in 10 years

from Oregon Live

By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia is facing its worst humanitarian crisis in a decade, and the situation is deteriorating, an international aid agency said Wednesday.

Worsening armed conflict, rising global prices of food and fuel, and severe drought in central Somalia are the main factors contributing to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa nation, said Pascal Hundt, head of the International Red Cross' delegation for Somalia.

"When you put all these factors together this is explaining why we are in front of an acute humanitarian crisis in Somalia," Hundt told journalists in the capital of neighboring Kenya, where the ICRC bases the operation because of insecurity in Somalia. "We have no reason to be optimistic in the short term."

Hundt said Somalia is experiencing its "worst tragedy of the past decade."

The ICRC will triple its budget this year due to the worsening humanitarian situation in Somalia, Hundt said, declining to give the figure because of concern for staff safety. He said that in the past when the aid agency has made public the financial details of its Somalia operation, its staff there have been threatened with robbery.

The most severely affected areas are in central Somalia, which has suffered from poor rainfall and harvests for more than two years, the statement said. It said food shortages in central Somalia are severe and livestock, a major source of sustenance, are weakening as pasture land dries up.

On Tuesday, a group representing a range of Somali organizations warned members from the U.N. Security Council of a worsening humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

The group also called for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops who have been in the country since 2006 to back up Somali forces fighting an Islamic insurgency, saying their departure would accelerate a political settlement of the country's 18-year conflict.

The Security Council members were in Djibouti on Tuesday to encourage direct talks between Somalia's transitional government and an opposition alliance.

"The presence of Ethiopian troops is exacerbating the crisis, and their withdrawal will accelerate all-inclusive political settlement," the Somalis said in a joint statement.

Hundt, however, said that neither Somalia's fragile transitional government nor the presence of Ethiopian troops has much impact on the ICRC's operation in Somalia. He urged all parties to the conflict "to respect rules."

He said there is no safe place in Somalia, either for Somalis or foreign aid workers.

"The best place, as I'm speaking now, can be the worst place tomorrow," he said.

Somalia, a poverty-stricken nation of 7 million people, has been in anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on one another. A transitional government was formed in 2004 but remains fragile.

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At home in a foreign land: Somalian refugees adjust to a new life

from The Greeley Tribune

Chris Casey, (Bio) ccasey@greeleytrib.com

The four Somalis moved into the apartment last August, six floors up in a downtown Greeley building. The living room is furnished with only a metal folding chair and small table covered in papers and a laptop computer. A Somali flag, a white star against light blue, is the only wall hanging, draped behind the table.

A 25-year-old man identifying himself as Mohamed Mohamed sits on the floor helping Nafiso Mohamed Abdi, 20, fill out a rental application form for another Greeley apartment complex.

It's noon on Wednesday, and in three hours they will be working along with scores of Somalis at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.

Mohamed, who speaks English, is a trainer for new employees, making $12.10 an hour, while Abdi, in the hijab headscarf worn by Somali women, works in packaging.

"It's a good place to work," Mohamed said. "It's a hard job, but it's good."

While they eat and sleep in the two-bedroom apartment, the Somalis mostly direct their energies outward into this new community half the globe away from their war-torn homeland.

They stroll Greeley's supermarkets, banks, video stores, and motor vehicles office, and they are frequently seen walking downtown streets. Many congregate at a south Greeley restaurant that serves Somali dishes.

"It's a really unsafe place," Ibraham Mohamed said of his native country. "There are warlords. There's no government existing, so everyone has a gun. You never know when you're going to die."

Abdullah Mohamed, 54, works the second shift -- roughly from 3 p.m.-midnight -- at Swift. The job is physically taxing but worth it, allowing him to send money to his wife and children in Seattle. He hopes they will be able to join him in Greeley.

A resident of a refugee camp for 16 years, Abdullah Mohamed likes the feeling of safety in his new country. Here, he is a legal refugee, enjoying United Nations protection and eligibility for employment.

"I can sleep at night," he said.

20 EACH DAY

Ibraham Mohamed is a Greeley caseworker for Lutheran Family Services, which provides refugee resettlement services. He estimates that about 300 east Africans are in Greeley, and that "every day, 20 or 30 people are coming to get started at Swift, maybe 15 (a day). It depends on how they get the job."

He said many hear about plant openings from friends and relatives.

They come for opportunity and safety. Jobs on the recently added second shift at JBS Swift & Co. offer a living wage for Africans accustomed to extreme poverty.

The east Africans, mostly Somalis, who've arrived in the past year are further diversifying Greeley, which has long been dominated by Anglos and Latinos. The city, with its agricultural roots, has historically attracted waves of immigrants, from Swedes and German-Russians to Japanese and Latinos.

This arrival represents Greeley's first distinct ethnic wave of the 21st century, and it follows patterns seen in other U.S. cities and towns, particularly in the Midwest.

A 2003 study by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire found that almost 30,000 Somali refugees had resettled in the United States, with the majority in Minnesota. The largest numbers in the Midwest, as in Greeley, work in meatpacking plants and other places that use unskilled labor.

"It does seem to be work that doesn't require a lot of English and that is not contrary to any of their customs or any part of their religion," said Christine Marston, an economics professor at the University of Northern Colorado. Swift pays $12 an hour to starting workers, "and Greeley doesn't have that high of a cost of living compared to some parts of the U.S., so I think it's an attractive place of employment for those reasons."

Doug Schult, who heads employee and labor relations at Swift, said refugees are coming from several east African countries. They are working at Swift plants across the nation, from Greeley to Kentucky.

Their numbers have "probably grown in the last year and a half (at Swift in Greeley), and I would say that's probably universal across the country as these refugees come in," Schult said.

Swift is coming off a year in which 270 Latino employees were stung in a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The number of Latino workers at the plant has dropped from 90 percent of its total work force to about 80 percent. The disruption of the raid, coupled with the addition of 1,300 jobs on the second shift, has opened the doors for African refugees, who are legally here and eager to start their lives anew.

"I like so much the U.S.," said Abdiqadir Jama, 20, another Somali refugee. "A lot of opportunity. You can do anything you want."

'VERY VOLATILE'

Inside the high-rise apartment, Taher Mame, one of Mohamed's roommates, stirs soup in one pot and spaghetti in another.

He said he'd like to go to college, but he can't afford it just yet. He cuts meat full time at Swift and sends $400 a month home to relatives in Africa.

Mame, 22, said the meatpacking plant work is hard. He hopes to get an office job someday.

Mohamed Mohamed, meanwhile, takes classes at Aims Community College while working full time at Swift. He wants to become a physician.

He was 7 when he left Somalia, which has been gripped by civil war since 1991, when its dictator was overthrown. His family resettled in Kenya. Eventually, along with thousands of his countrymen, Mohamed came to the United States under the United Nations resettlement program for refugees.

Mohamed said he knows people in Somalia -- which has produced hundreds of thousands of refugees -- who've been maimed, tortured and killed.

"It's a very volatile place with no law and order, no cops, no government," he said. "Dangerous. Any moment things can change. The next moment you never know."

The United States, meanwhile, is peaceful but highly structured -- one of the many adjustments the Somalis face here. Most of them are Muslim, and daily prayers take place at prescribed times around the clock.

Mohamed said Swift doesn't allow breaks at set times for prayers. He said the company has explained that certain groups of workers can't be treated differently than others.

"Sometimes you have to pray at specific times but you're on the production line, so you miss the prayer," he said.

The Somalis try to work around it by praying during normal breaks.

Tamara Smid, Swift spokeswoman, said the company is making accommodations for the refugee workers.

"We respect the religion of our employees and comply with the laws to provide reasonable accommodations," she said.

Swift has interpreters who speak multiple languages in the plant, she said. Also, the company is looking into offering English classes or forming outside-the-plant partnerships to provide language lessons for the refugees.

EXTENSIVE PROCESSING

Anders Snyder, volunteer and church relations coordinator at Lutheran Family Services in Denver, said the nonprofit group has opened offices in Fort Morgan, Colorado Springs, Summit County and now Greeley.

LFS serves both refugees who have fled their home country because of religious or political oppression and asylees who've come to the United States on their own and apply for asylum.

LFS served its first clients in Greeley in April 2007, when an estimated 40 refugees and asylees were in the city. Their numbers have increased since, especially in the last two months. Refugees are mostly from Somalia, but also Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cameroon and Congo.

About 200 refugees arrived in Fort Morgan, most working at Cargill Meat Solutions, by midsummer 2007.

"That's really been the emphasis for most of the movement," Snyder said. "Folks found out there were jobs at those locations. Good wages and good benefits and so forth."

Snyder said the background checks and paperwork required by the U.S. government is extensive.

"Refugees go through more processing than any immigration group when they come to the U.S.," he said. "It all happens before they get here."

Among the refugees, many lived elsewhere in the United States before arriving in Colorado.

"Most of what we're dealing with in Greeley and Fort Morgan are people who are secondary migrants who have chosen to come here (from other U.S. cities)," Snyder said.

Somali and other African refugees can work as soon as they arrive in the U.S. They can apply for a green card after a year, Snyder said.

Upon arrival, they often struggle to learn English, find a job and navigate applications for housing and a driver's license. That's where Lutheran Family Services steps in, providing about four to eight months of assistance -- including some cash -- to help the newcomers get settled.

"We help get all the pieces in place for self-sufficiency," Snyder said. "That's the name of the game for us."

Last year, 1,085 refugees overall streamed into Colorado, according to Paul Stein, coordinator of the Colorado State Refugee Services Program.

Nationally, the U.S. Refugee Service Program will cap African refugees at 16,000 in 2008 (the number varies year to year based on a presidential determination). In the first four months of fiscal 2008, which began last October, 687 Somalis had entered the country. The African nations with the most refugees so far this year are Liberia (764) and Burundi (1,781).

"We first became aware of secondary migrants in Weld and Morgan counties about the fall of 2006," Stein said. "... I don't have a real sense of the rate of arrival, whether it's going to increase or decrease. It's really going to depend on the economy or the local environment."

So far, Greeley has been generally hospitable. The Greeley Police Department is scheduling outreach meetings to help Somalis learn rules of the road and understand other local laws. The international specialist at Aims has been meeting with African students about enrolling in English classes and other college programs.

"If communities seem to be embracing the refugee community, then more would be saying this is a nice community," Stein said.

'Happy to be free'

Ibraham Mohamed left Somalia at a young age to live in a refugee camp, along with more than 30,000 Somalis, in Kenya. He said it was a dream to come to the United States, and he spent two years in Seattle attending college before coming to Denver.

Ibraham relates to those he's helping in Greeley. He recalls how difficult it was to work and attend school, all while sending money to Africa.

"They are very hardworking people," he said. "Once they get their job, they try to keep their job. I don't think they are moving nowhere. They will be here forever, or until maybe they get school. Whenever I talk to them they say, 'Maybe I will go to college, extend my English, have a better job.'

"That's what most of their dreams are right now."

But some, including Abdiqadir Jama, are here to study. A cousin and some friends in Greeley told Jama, who had spent two years at a meatpacking plant in Emporia, Kan., about northern Colorado and its educational opportunities.

He moved here a month ago, bringing two sisters. His older sister works at Swift and the younger sister goes to Northridge High School.

His job in Kansas, where he worked his way up to being a trainer, paid $13.65 an hour, giving him the chance to save money for college.

Jama said when the plane touched down in Los Angeles two years ago -- the airfare covered by the U.S. government -- was one of the happiest moments of his life. "I was so happy to be free."

He left Somalia at age 4; his parents moved the family to Kenya, where they eventually settled in Nairobi.

Whenever he ventured out of that major city, where he attended high school and learned three languages, things got dangerous.

"In Africa, if you went to another city, some thieves they came up to me and said, 'Hey, take everything out of your pockets -- your phone, your money, everything you have.' That happens a lot."

His main concerns now are getting enrolled in college -- he wants to work in a pharmacy -- and joining a soccer league, his favorite sport. He and his older sister share an apartment in downtown Greeley, paying $460 in rent.

He understands the struggle of fellow Somalis who want to go to college but can't yet afford it.

"A lot of (Somalis), they want to come here (to Aims), but the job they're working is hard, so it's too hard to do both," Jama said. "They're cutting meat, they're taking the bone out."

He's been meeting with Alan Hendrickson, international programs director at Aims, about financial aid and classes to take.

Hendrickson has helped several Somalis enroll in English grammar and other classes. He also makes sure they can squeeze the costs of college into their budget.

"That's why they're here, because they want to improve," Hendrickson said. "And we want to help them."

Jama is no stranger to piles of paperwork. It took him 18 months of filing papers and waiting on approvals to get refugee status. Most of his large family -- 15 siblings and parents -- already have done so.

It's a tight community wherever they go. "The Somali people they go together, they live together."

The Somalis generally say they feel welcome. Some, like Amina Warsame, 20, stops so frequently at Bank of the West in downtown Greeley that she's gotten to know the tellers' names. A chorus of "Hi Aminas" greet her when she enters the bank.

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[Press Release] Somalia crisis deteriorates, aid agencies warn

from World Vision

Press contacts:
Casey Calamusa 206.310.5476 (c)

Rachel Wolff 253.394.2214 (c)

Statement comes as UN Security Council members meet to discuss Somalia

Nairobi, Kenya, March 25, 2008—On Oct. 30, 2007, 39 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warned of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Somalia and an impending humanitarian catastrophe. Since then, the crisis engulfing Somalia has deteriorated dramatically, while access to people in need continues to decrease: 360,000 people have been newly displaced and an additional half a million people are reliant on humanitarian assistance.

There are now more than 1 million internally displaced people in Somalia. Intense conflict in Mogadishu continues to force an average of 20,000 people from their homes each month. This, combined with record high food prices, hyperinflation and drought in large parts of the country, is leaving communities struggling to survive. Extreme water and food shortages are expected to worsen across the country if the seasonal rains (April - June) fail, as experts are predicting.

As the crisis worsens, Somali and international aid agencies are unable to respond adequately to the needs. Attacks on, and killings of, aid workers, the looting of relief supplies, and a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict have left 2 million Somalis in need of basic humanitarian assistance.

For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten. The undersigned agencies are asking the international community and all parties to the conflict to urgently focus their attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Somalia. They must ensure access for humanitarian supplies, live up to their responsibility to protect civilians and address the environment of impunity. The humanitarian crisis will become more and more complex and will continue to deepen in the absence of a political solution to the current crisis.
Notes to editors:

UN Security Council members will this week consider the Secretary General’s March 21 report on Somalia. At this important time NGOs feel it is vital to make a statement highlighting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Somalia to ensure that these concerns are part of the debate and with the hope that they are reflected in any decisions made by the Security Council.

Thirty-nine agencies have signed on to this joint statement.

The humanitarian crisis:
82 percent of the newly displaced people have concentrated in the regions that already face the worst problems in the country in terms food access, collapsing livelihoods, drought and emergency nutrition levels.

The 15-kilometer stretch of road between Mogadishu and the town of Afgooye, now host to approximately 250,000 people displaced this year, has been described by the UN as probably the single largest IDP gathering in the world today.

According to UNICEF, Somalia is the worst place in the world for children. Approximately one in seven children under the age of 5 in Somalia are acutely malnourished.

Drought is worsening in central and parts of northern Somalia and there is urgent need to increase humanitarian assistance in the affected areas. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, in collaboration with the UN’s FAO Food Security Analysis Unit, recently issued a warning stating that another poor rainy season from April to June (predicted) would further aggravate the already precarious food security situation in these regions—increasing the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance and leaving many facing high to extreme levels of food insecurity.

The cash income of the families left in Mogadishu (the poorest of the poor who do not have the means to flee) is now $12.13 per month. Assuming the average family size in Somalia is 6.9, this works out as $1.76 per person per month—or six cents per person per day. This will buy someone three rolls of bread.

Continuing insecurity, hyperinflation (including record high food and non-food prices) and drought over the next few months can only lead to a further deterioration in the humanitarian crisis.

Access/security indicators:
UN OCHA reports that efforts to assist the people of Somalia have never been as restricted as they are now.

Numerous obstacles continue to limit humanitarian space in Somalia; general insecurity, administrative delays, restrictions or delays in movement of goods, targeting of humanitarian workers and assets including the looting of aid and carjackings, piracy, negative perception of humanitarian workers, targeting civil society and media, localized disputes/competition over resources, lack of will and/or ability by authorities to address security incidents within their control.

There is a growing climate of fear and uncertainty in most of Somalia. Previously safe areas are now becoming inaccessible due to spreading insecurity.

Six aid workers have been killed since the beginning of 2008 causing some agencies to remove all their international staff from Somalia. In Puntland in particular, several kidnapping incidents have led to the complete withdrawal of international staff from the region. The NGO Security Office reports that the security situation for NGOs operating in Somalia will not improve in the near future.

The number of checkpoints and roadblocks now stands at 396 in the country as a whole, compared with approximately 147 in January 2007.

At a meeting earlier in March, more than 150 leaders of Somali Civil Society, called on all parties to the conflict to enable humanitarian access for immediate emergency response by both Somali and international agencies


AGENCIES SIGNATORY TO THE STATEMENT

* World Vision (World Vision)
* Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED)
* Adventist Relief Development Agency (ADRA)
* African Relief and Development Program (ARDP)
* Cooperative Assistance for Relief Everywhere (CARE)
* Concern Worldwide (CONCERN)
* Coperazione Internazionale (COOPI)
* Diakonie Emergency Aid Bread for the World (DBG)
* Diakonia Sweden (Diakonia Sweden)
* Development Initiative Access Link (DIAL)
* Danish Refugee Council (DRC)
* Gedo Health Consortium (GHC)
* Global Organisation for Health and Development (GOHED)
* Gothenberg Initiative (GI)
* Gol Yome Rehabilitation & Development Organization (GREDO)
* Humanitarian Action for Relief and Development Organization (HARDO)
* Himilo Foundation (HIMILO)
* HISAN – WEPA (HISAN)
* Horn Relief (Horn Relief)
* International Aid Services (IAS)
* Institute of Education for Disabled People in Somalia (IEDSOM)
* International Medical Corps (IMC)
* International Rescue Committee (IRC)
* Interpeace/ War Torn Societies (Interpeace)
* Medicins du Monde (MDM)
* Mercy Corps Somalia (Mercy Corps Somalia)
* Merlin (Merlin)
* Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
* Oxfam International (OXFAM International)
* Progressio (Progressio)
* Relief International (RI)
* SAACID Australia (SAACID Australia)
* Saferworld (Saferworld)
* Save the Children UK (SC-UK)
* Terra Nouva Association for international Cooperation to Development (Terra Nouva)
* Education Small Scale Enterprise Food Security & Resource Emergency Response (TROCAIRE)
* VETAID (VETAID)
* WETHULNGERHILFE/ German Agro Action (GAA)
* World Concern International (World Concern)

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As Drought Hits, Regional Ruler Dreams of Conquering Poverty With Oil

from All Africa

Garowe Online (Garowe)

By Yusuf Ali
Garowe

Parts of Somalia's semiautonomous State of Puntland are currently experiencing drought in villages, which has affected hundreds of nomadic families, the regional government's Interior Ministry said Monday.

Some villagers in the regions of Nugal, Mudug, Sool and Ayn are undergoing a drought due to scarce water resources, the Ministry said in a statement.

Adde Muse, president of Somalia's Puntland State

The Interior Ministry dispatched a committee to the aforementioned regions, which inspected remote villages and undertook a survey. Nomadic families have been adversely affected by a market decline in the demand for livestock, their main source of income, business sources said.

Awil Gurre, chairman of the government committee, told Garowe Online that he personally saw families severely affected by the drought.

He called on the Puntland State government and international and local humanitarian agencies to extend immediate assistance to the families, who are experiencing shortages in food, water and other necessities.

Even as the region undergoes drought, the incumbent administration of President Mohamud "Adde" Muse is vigorously pursuing the legalization of a controversial exploration contract inked in mid-2005 with a foreign firm.

President Muse chaired a Puntland Cabinet meeting today in the port city of Bossaso, which concluded with government ministers ratifying a document entitled "The Oil and Minerals Law of Puntland State Government."

The document will be handed to the Puntland Parliament for debate, officials said.

A confidential source at the Cabinet meeting told Garowe Online that Energy Minister Hassan "Alore" Osman entered the room and "read aloud" the document.

No copies of the document were handed to the Cabinet ministers, the source added.

It is not clear why Minister Alore behaved in such a manner, but his action is consistent with the shadiness surrounding Muse's ambitious exploration project from the onset.

Since 2005, Muse and his foreign partners - Australia's Range Resources, Ltd., and Canada-based Africa Oil Corp. - have been unable to begin exploration operations in Puntland, due to local and national opposition.

But the Puntland ruler remains steadfast in his support for exploration. Last week, a constitutional review committee introduced a revised Constitution that experts say is very favorable to President Muse and his controversial exploration agenda.

Muse has told numerous crowds that, in his belief, poverty can be conquered in Puntland by profits earned from the exploration and production of the region's natural resources potential.

But critics disagree, often accusing Muse's government of corruption and cite the public's growing distrust and lack of confidence in the incumbent administration.

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UN: Displaced Somalis affected by poverty and violence

from AKI
Geneva, 6 Nov. (AKI) - Displaced Somalis who have fled fighting in Mogadishu are suffering from malnutrition, poverty and violence, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In a statement released on Tuesday the UNHCR said people were experiencing "extremely harsh conditions" with reports of malnutrition and rape.

The UNHCR conducted an evaluation of the country with other aid agencies and found that facilities in Afgooye, a small town west of the Somali capital, was struggling to absorb swelling populations with scant resources.

"Entire families are now crammed into tiny huts," said UNHCR spokesman William Spindler in Geneva.

Spindler said hygiene was poor in the crowded settlements raising fears of an outbreak of cholera. He also expressed concern about young children, after the UN team visited a therapeutic feeding centre, where they found "some 50 malnourished children, some of them too weak to cry."

He said leaders in some of the settlements also reported several cases of rape and called for improved security and protection.

He said during the past week, 15 new makeshift settlements had been created along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye, bringing to 50 the total number of spontaneous camps lining the route.

The UNHCR says renewed fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu nearly a week ago has displaced an estimated 90,000 people -more than half of them to Afgooye - while another 17,000 people had moved to safer neighbourhoods in the capital.

"The UN inter-agency team found that in one settlement near Afgooye, the 13,000 people living there for the last few months had been joined last week by another 7,000 displaced Somalis," said Spindler.

Another site with 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) received 2,000 more over the past week, he added.

The agency is warning that some of the basic infrastructure set up in settlements in and around Afgooye can no longer meet the needs of the large numbers of new refugees.

Spindler said that water distribution systems need to be expanded and health centres need to be strengthened to cope with the spike in the population in and around Afgooye.

Despite a lull in fighting in the past week, sporadic gun battles have been reported. There are also reports of Ethiopian troop reinforcements being deployed in Mogadishu, according to the agency, which has already distributed aid to 78,000 people in Afgooye this year.

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Rwanda: UK gives Rwanda Frw 51bn for poverty reduction

from Somali Net

(SomaliNet) Rwanda has got over Frw 51billion from United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) as part of an effort to help get rid of extreme poverty.

The DFID funds are part of United Kingdom (UK) development assistance to Rwanda, the DFID Director in Africa, Dave Fish told journalists on Thursday shortly after meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

“The DFID is satisfied with Rwanda’s accountability. All the funds remitted to the country are managed properly,” Fish said.

In 2006, Rwandan government and the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding which calls for the two countries’ commitment to end poverty.

“The UK has been providing humanitarian and development assistance to Rwanda. It provides bilateral assistance totaling to over fifty one billion Francs annually,” Fish said.

“The UK values its strong development partnership with Rwanda. We have confirmed our commitment to providing a high level of assistance to Rwanda over the next ten years.”

Rwanda’s Finance minister James Musoni said part of the money goes to budget support and the rest is injected into other priority areas.

“We are very much committed to observe good governance and financial management. Defending human rights is our priority too,” Musoni said.

The DFID is an arm of the UK Government that manages Britain’s aid to developing countries and works to reduce poverty and improve the standard of living for the citizens.

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