The UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Baroness Valerie Amos, has said a new policy is currently being worked out to ease the tasks of aid workers in conflict zones. In an exclusive interview with PANA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the UN official said the new policy was being put in place in response to the humanitarian needs identified during the recent conflict in Libya as well the ongoing conflict in Somalia.

“The discussions between the military and the aid workers will ensure that we are able to get the information and the data we need to ensure the success of our work,” she said, adding that the policy would reinforce the principle of the “responsibility to protect” civilians fleeing conflict zones.

Baroness Amos said she was worried that the Kenyan military operation in Southern Somalia was having a greater impact on the humanitarian situation in the region.

Kenya’s military insists the incursion into areas previously under the control of the Al Shabaab militia group has in turn expanded the area under the control of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and paved the way for the movement of the aid workers.

Amos said the Kenyan forces bore the responsibility to protect those civilians fleeing the fighting in Somalia, adding that the people fleeing the conflict are creating a humanitarian crisis.

She said her mission was to raise awareness on the hot spots in Africa in 2012 and urge the leaders to take pre-emptive measures to avoid an escalation of the humanitarian crisis.

The former British Minister, who briefed several heads of state at the just-concluded AU Summit on her aid mission, said early indications showed that Africa was bracing for another serious security crisis in the Sahel.

“There are indications that we face a serious security and humanitarian crisis in the Sahel. We are currently putting together a contingency plan,” she said.

Pana 03/02/2012