I think now Somalia is turning a corner and we can, with the new political development, build on momentum – really build a peaceful future.

It is only the Somalis themselves – and I don’t hide that fact when I meet the political leaders here – they themselves have to stop their old practices of fighting each other every time they have a problem. They have to learn how to do peaceful conflict resolution.

Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending in among women and children. I heard they were making statements that they were proud of losing fewer armed men than civilians. It’s hard to see how they could be proud of such a situation.

We estimate that humanitarian agencies have access to about 350,000 vulnerable people in Darfur – only about one third of the estimated total population in need.

In a world full of competing emergencies and disasters, it really helps if there is an international locomotive that can help us bring attention – help us bring resources.

It’s a cruel reality. But after a week, very few people survive.

We're in a bad year. There have been more international disasters than usual. All the wars are continuing. The Pakistan situation will have an effect elsewhere.

The good news is that we have very good pledges, but the bad news for us is that too little is committed to the UN's flash appeal.

The good news is that we have very good pledges. The bad news is that we still have too few concrete commitments to the U.N. flash appeal.

The government must stop further evictions and be more flexible in allowing shelter and other programs for those affected. It must ensure that beneficiaries are assisted solely on the basis of need.