United Nations Radio

The Djibouti agreement remains open to all Somalis, and the UN Secretary-General is urging all of them to joint that process, implement it faithfully and commit unconditionally to peace.

That's what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest report to the Security Council on Somalia.

He says that the deterioration of the security situation, particularly in the south-central regions, poses an immense challenge, not just to reconciliation efforts, but also to the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Secretary-General says the African Union Mission in Somalia deserves international support and encouragement.

He adds that it will be imperative to tie that Mission, the ongoing anti-piracy operation and an envisaged multinational force in a coordinated effort to address both the consequences and the sources of lawlessness in Somalia.

According to the report, as current conditions are not conducive to a UN peacekeeping operation, Secretary-General Ban appeals to member States to pledge troops, funds and equipment for a multinational force.

On the humanitarian side, the World Food Programme (WFP) says that, in October, it dispatched a total of 21,198 metric tons of food aid commodities for distribution in Somalia to nearly 1.7 million people.

Nearly 80% of the food distributed was through emergency food distribution to vulnerable residents and displaced populations in South-Central Somalia.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

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