Human rights expert pleads for tsunami-affected Somalis//CORRECTED REPEAT//

The UN independent expert on human rights, Ghanim Alnajjar, urged on Monday the international community to "remember those affected by the tsunami in the Puntland region of northeastern Somalia where more than 150 people were killed and about 50,000 people" have been affected. Noting that some emergency supplies had been distributed to hundreds of families affected by the 26 December tsunami, Alnajjar, in a statement, said: "Somali victims of the devastating tsunami may be in danger of being forgotten by the international community." "The independent expert notes that at this crucial time, when Somalia is working on reconciliation and reconstruction, the international community must, more than ever, support the fledgling Transitional Federal Government, which has set up a special commission to coordinate Somali relief," the statement issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, added. Meanwhile, the international charity, CARE-USA, has allocated US $2.5 million to help rebuild Somali communities devastated by the tsunami over the next 18 months. The funds will be used for short-term emergency relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation, disaster mitigation plans and training, livelihood recovery and helping families generate incomes, CARE said. "Across the Indian Ocean and a world away from the epicentre of international attention, Somalia is only beginning to realise the damage it suffered from last month's tsunami," CARE-USA said in a statement on Monday. Gordy Molitor, CARE-Somalia country director noted: "The death toll here is much smaller than those of some South Asian countries, which helps explain why there's been relatively little media coverage. But we must not forget how powerful an impact a disaster like this has on a nation that was already one of the world's poorest. "After four years of drought, two nights of torrential rain in late October and a freak cold spell, many traditional herders had lost all their livestock," CARE, which has worked in Somalia since 1981, added. "Families had moved to the coast in search of fishing jobs - only to lose their few remaining possessions to the huge wave." In a related development, the Chinese government flew into the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, relief materials worth $1.3 million, on Sunday, for drought and tsunami-affected people in Somalia and Kenya, the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported. The Chinese ambassador to Kenya, Guo Chongli, was quoted by Xinhua as saying: "The Chinese government has recently donated $100,000 respectively to the Kenyan government and the Somali government. This time, China sends a planeload of relief materials to further support the disaster-hit people in both countries." Thousands of those affected by the tsunami in Somalia had already been displaced by years of successive drought from their areas of origin and had moved to the coastal areas in search of opportunities, a report released by the Somali government and various agencies last week said. According to the report, about 3,344 families living in areas recently assessed for damage by the December tsunami in Puntland had suffered a "triple disaster". First, they had been affected by four years of successive drought, which displaced them from their areas of origin. Then their livestock perished in considerable numbers and finally came the tsunami. According to various relief agencies working in the region, about 150 people are estimated to have died throughout Somalia, while 54,000 were in need of emergency assistance. Northeastern Somalia was the worst affected, particularly a stretch of around 650 km between Hafun [Bari region] and Garacad [Mudug region]. The damage extended to other parts of the Somali coast, including the Lower Juba area, south of Mogadishu. The livelihoods of many people residing in small villages along the Somali coastline, particularly in the northeastern regions, were devastated.