SUNDAY EDITORIAL | It is the responsibility of the international community to guarantee that funds used to train security forces in Somalia are divided fairly to the various regions.

The Apr. 22 donor conference for Somalia that was held in the Belgian capital of Brussels was a big success, given that Somalia's plight has returned to the international stage and a US$250million donation was pledged to support the war-torn Horn of Africa country. Media reports indicate that most of the pledged funds will be spent to boost the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which will be doubled to 8,000 peacekeepers to serve as the military backbone of the so-called 'Government of National Unity' in Mogadishu. A lesser amount of pledged funds will be channeled through the United Nations to provide training to Somali security forces, and to pay for medicine, education and rural development programs in Somalia, according to a Voice of America report.

There is no question that Somalia needs emergency support to recover from 20 years of civil war, foreign occupation, drought, disease, floods, hyperinflation, terrorism and piracy. According to British aid agency Oxfam, 3.2 million people in Somalia are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance in the form of food, water, medicines and shelter. This is a truly disheartening statistic but one that cannot be neglected by the Somalis and the international community. As such, the Brussels donor conference comes at a time of great urgency and the need for immediate and sustainable action.

The flipside of the support the so-called 'Government of National Unity' received in Brussels is the sad reality in Mogadishu, where President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's interim government faces an Islamist rebellion unlike the one he once led against Ethiopian troops. Sheikh Sharif, who is remembered for his public declarations of jihad against foreign troops, has been openly defending the presence of AMISOM peacekeepers in Mogadishu and, if his speech in Brussels is any indication, welcomes the expansion of the 4,000-strong AMISOM peacekeeping force to 8,000 troops. Of course, the number one sticking point between the government and the opposition is – and has always been – the presence of foreign troops, whether Ethiopian or AMISOM. The armed opposition can be expected to intensify the insurgency against AMISOM peacekeepers and their Somali government allies.

It is the responsibility of the international community to guarantee that funds used to train security forces in Somalia are divided fairly to the various regions that make up this war-ravaged country. The 16,000-strong Somali national security force that will be trained, according to the Somali government's plan, must ensure that regions with organized and functioning security forces receive their fair share of training, as well as funding support in the areas of medicine, education and rural development programs.

There is a delicate clan-based balance of power that must be protected in Somalia. For good or bad, the so-called 'Government of National Unity' is not supported by all clans in Somalia as best demonstrated by the government's inability to enter certain sections of Mogadishu, or its complete absence from most regions of the country.  Erstwhile peaceful regions, like Somaliland (still part of Somalia) and Puntland in the north, deserve special attention as stable areas that have long served as bulwark against the spread of political anarchy across the entire country. Especially with regard to Puntland, the world must value this stable region as a strategic partner in the war against pirates.

Garowe Online Editorial, editorial@garoweonline.com