Somali pirates preying on international shipping are also damaging their homeland's battered economy, worsening the instability that opened the door to piracy and inroads by Islamic extremists, the United Nations chief warned.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his quarterly report to the UN Security Council that the surge in piracy and armed robbery against ships had severely affected trade, worsened the humanitarian crisis and further weakened Somalia's transition gov
ernment.
Inflation is "unbridled," especially in south-central Somalia where fuel costs soared almost 170 per cent and prices for staple foods shot up more than 250 per cent in the 12 months through August.
Mr Ban said piracy has even hurt Somalia's once stable semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland, whose currency has lost almost 80 per cent of its value in the past year. Much of the piracy is happening off Puntland's coast.
The number of Somalis in need of humanitarian aid has increased 77 per cent since January, from 1.8 million to 3.2 million, Mr Ban said. "If local communities are not empowered with the means to earn a sustainable livelihood in the wake of growing global and local challenges, Somalia will continue to be a potential breeding ground for frustrated extremists –a challenge to its stability, that of the region and the rest of the world," Mr Ban warned.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when clan warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
The current government, formed in 2004 with the help of the UN, has failed to protect citizens from violence or poverty. Islamic militants have waged an Iraq-style insurgency for almost two years.
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