UN aid chief warns of ‘looming famine’ in Somalia as war on Iran drives up prices

[0:00] Tom Fletcher is the UN's Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief [0:04] Coordinator, and he joins us now live from Mogadishu. Sir, thanks so much for being with [0:08] us here on Al Jazeera. I've heard you say how angry you are because that the U.S.-Israel war [0:14] in Iran means that much-needed resources are going into conflict rather than in aiding the [0:20] millions of people who so desperately need help. What examples can you give us regarding the impact [0:26] that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has had on, for example, fuel prices, and how much more [0:31] difficult that makes it for aid agencies to provide services like running medical facilities? [0:40] Well, look, I've been in Somalia for almost a week now, and I'm hearing every day, every hour, [0:46] the impact of this crisis. Remember that Somalia was already facing enormous needs. We were already [0:53] facing, as you've just heard, massive cuts. We're only 13 percent funded against an already heavily [0:59] prioritized plan. And now with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, you have, as you've been hearing [1:04] from your correspondents, a doubling of food prices, a doubling of fuel prices. So that drives up the cost [1:11] of our response, but it also drives many, many more people into poverty. And the result, I'm afraid, [1:17] is the danger of famine is looming once again in this region. You've got half a million kids in [1:23] severe acute malnutrition. You've got a doubling of hunger past six months. So we need the world to [1:30] wake up and respond to the crisis here. The fact that so many conflicts are ongoing in different [1:37] parts of the world right now means that there are massive global funding shortfalls. I want to ask [1:43] you about specific challenges being faced by people in Somalia. On the most human level, how much [1:49] harder are these cuts making people's daily lives? So this is the first trip I've done where so many [1:57] of the people we're here to serve talk to me about cuts very explicitly because they can see and feel [2:03] the impact. They know that because their medical center has closed, they have to travel much, much [2:09] further to get treatment. And they are, the Médecins Sans Frontières team are just telling me, [2:13] seven times more likely to die as a result of not getting that treatment in the rural areas and having to [2:20] try to travel to the urban areas. You've got families, mothers telling us that their kids are [2:26] not getting the treatment they need because because of how hard we're having to prioritize because of [2:32] those cuts. I met mothers who are trying to bring up five, six kids and between 140 households, they [2:40] only had two latrines and those are now flooded. So everywhere around us, I'm seeing and our teams are [2:48] seeing the impact on individual people of these cuts. And remember that I'm visiting the places [2:53] where we still have medical services, where we're still able to operate. I'm not seeing all those [2:59] places that we've already left. Mr. Fletcher, how do you explain to people there on the ground who so [3:05] desperately need this aid, why funding cuts are happening and why the international community seems [3:12] more and more to turn away from emergencies like these? And if I could also ask you on a very basic, [3:17] very human level, how does that make you feel when you have those interactions? [3:20] It makes me feel shame and anger. And the reality is I can't explain that. I can try to explain what [3:32] we're doing to ensure that we maximize the numbers of lives saved with the little that we're actually [3:37] getting. I can try and explain to them how we try and prioritize in a fair way who lives [3:42] and who dies. But I can't talk to them about the fact that the world economy has been put on a war [3:49] footing. That's the reality. And the winners of that are the arms dealers and the mercenaries and [3:55] the people treating the world economy like a casino gambling on the stock market. Because the reality [4:01] is the people I'm meeting don't know that those people are benefiting in that way. All they know is [4:06] that they are losing. At a time like this, when things are so perilous, especially when it comes to [4:12] humanitarian emergencies and the responses that they need, what from your vantage point will it [4:18] take to get countries to once again prioritize funding of aid agencies again? What concrete steps [4:24] do you think need to be taken? And will they be taken? I mean, honestly, I sometimes despair, [4:31] but we cannot despair because this work matters too much. And so we try to get the message out there. [4:36] And I'm really grateful that you've had me on to try and explain the situation. You're covering [4:39] the impact of these cuts on people in Somalia and in so many of the other areas in which we work. [4:46] Look, we will carry on trying to regain the trust of the public, explaining how we're delivering [4:50] our saving as many lives as we can with the resources that we have, how they don't have to [4:55] choose between a hospital in Mogadishu and a hospital closer to home, how all we're asking for [5:00] to save 87 million lives globally this year is $23 billion. And that's less than 1% of what their [5:08] governments are currently spending on defense and security and arms. We'll keep on making those [5:13] arguments. And I know that there is an army of people out there who still believe in human [5:18] kindness and solidarity. And I have to believe that we'll hear their voices and that the cruelty [5:23] of a politician or a leader or a finance minister who with a swipe of a pen consigns tens of millions [5:32] of people to situations like those I've witnessed this week in Somalia. It's not what will define [5:39] our era. I believe that we're better than that. [5:43] Tom Fletcher is the UN's Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief [5:48] Coordinator. He joins us there live from Mogadishu. Mr. Fletcher, thanks so much for being with us [5:52] here on Al Jazeera. Great to get a chance to speak with you.