Hamas calls for extending urgent relief material to Somalia

[P F Tinmore]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Hamas movement called for extending badly needed relief material to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa in general and Somalia in particular in light of the tragic conditions that befell them.

The movement said in a statement on Saturday that it was following up with concern news of the drought in Somalia and other countries in the Horn of Africa, which led to a serious humanitarian tragedy that was affecting the lives of millions of people.

Hamas appealed to the Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic peoples along with the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the charitable societies, and the international organizations to extend immediate help and assistance to the people in Somalia and Horn of Africa, who are threatened with famine and death as a result of this disaster.

Hamas calls for extending urgent relief material to Somalia

 

[waltky]

Somalian babies starve while OPEC Arabs rake in the oil money...

A 7-month-old Somali famine victim fights for life in Kenyan field hospital
Tuesday, July 26,`11 — Seven-month-old Mihag Gedi Farah is the frail face of famine in the Horn of Africa. He stares out wide-eyed almost in alarm, his skin pulled taut over his ribs and twig-like arms.

At only 7 pounds, (3.2 kilograms), he weighs as much as a newborn but has the weathered look of an elderly man. Mihag is just one of 800,000 children who officials warn could die across the region. Aid workers are rushing to bring help to dangerous and previously unreached regions of drought-ravaged Somalia. Famine victims like Mihag bring new urgency to their efforts, raising concerns about how many hungry children still remain in Somalia, far away from the feeding tubes and doctors in the field hospital at this Kenyan refugee camp.

Mihag’s fragile skin crumples like thin leather under the pressure of his mother’s hands, as she touches the hollows where a baby’s chubby cheeks should be. Sirat Amine, a nurse-nutritionist with the International Rescue Committee, puts Mihag’s odds for survival at only 50-50. A baby Mihag’s age should weigh about three times what he does. His mother, Asiah Dagane, fans Mihag with the edge of her headscarf to keep flies away. He cries weakly, and when he does, she bounces him gently to try to soothe him and murmurs softly. “In my mind, I’m not well,” she says softly. “My baby is sick. In my head, I am also sick.”

Mihag is the youngest of seven children in his family. Dagane told The Associated Press through a hospital translator that she brought him and four siblings from Kismayo to Kenya after all their sheep and cattle died. Like the tens of thousands of other Somalis fleeing starvation, the family traveled sometimes by foot, other times catching rides with passing trucks, cars or buses. Dagane keeps vigil for her son in the ward, which is painted with cheerful pictures of balloons and fruit, lit with fluorescent bulbs. Other mothers huddle on beds next to babies with IV tubes snaking from their heads or hands.

Some infants cry, others are listless. In the middle of the room hangs a woven basket from a scale — but it’s not needed to tell that many of the babies are dangerously malnourished. Abdi Ibrahim Yara arrived 20 days ago with his four children, including 1-year-old twins. They are unable to drink the fortified milk and must be nourished by an IV. He and his wife were on the road for 25 days, but she became sick from malnutrition and died. She was four months pregnant. “We had a comfortable life there, but now there is no one left,” Yara says.

MORE

 

[P F Tinmore]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Arab Medical Union in Gaza has been campaigning to raise funds to aid famine-stricken Somalians as the country sees the worst drought in sixty years.

‘’The campaign is aimed at showing the physical cohesion between the besieged Gaza and Somalia, and that the Palestinians have the ability to support and stand by the Somalis,’’ said Abdurrahman al-Haddad, the coordinator for the AMU emergency committee.

The AMU has already sent a delegation and several aid convoys to Somalia, Haddad said, pointing out that those who saw what was happening there first-hand said the disaster is ‘’greater than can be described’’, as some 11 million Somalians are at risk of dying and four million experience hunger.

Gaza: Funds raised to aid famine-stricken Somalians

 

[waltky]

Children suffering in Horn of Africa drought...

Half A Million Children On Verge Of Starvation In Somalia
August 2, 2011 - Now that Congress has all but raised the roof on our debt, we can all give our undivided attention to Shark Week and the Bachelorette finale, which can you believe the way Chrystie judged J.P. just because—oh, hell what is this on the cover of today's New York Times? The Gray Lady isn't letting readers off the hook today, with one of the most arresting front pages in recent memory, showing a malnourished child at Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, where more than 500,000 Somali children are verging on starvation. If you need a reality check, today the Times is on it.

The worst drought in half a century has crippled the Horn of Africa and devastated the perpetually war-torn country of Somalia, where an Al Qaeda-affiliated Muslim group, Shabab, controls much of the sourthern part of the country. Jeffrey Gettleman reports that the group, which is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, has "been blocking starving people from fleeing the country and setting up a cantonment camp where it is imprisoning displaced people who were trying to escape Shabab territory."

"If this were Haiti, we would have dozens of [aid workers] on the ground by now,” says Eric James, an official with the American Refugee Committee, a private aid organization. But because the security situation is so volatile, and the U.S. forbids providing any aid that passes through Shabab's hands, millions of Somalians have been left to starve. The U.N.'s World Food Program is currently on the ground and, CBS reports, feeding 200,000 people in desperate need. But an estimated 2.2 million in southern Somalia are dying from famine.

The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is considering easing some anti-terrorism restrictions in Somalia, to enable aid groups to pay "taxes" or tolls demanded by Shabab on food shipments. "The question is, can we live with some diversion of aid to stop the famine?" Ken Menkhaus, a Davidson College professor and expert on Somalia, asks the Post. "The fear on the part of the Obama administration is of being put in a position, by opponents, of channeling food aid to terrorists."

Source

 

[P F Tinmore]

"The fear on the part of the Obama administration is of being put in a position, by opponents, of channeling food aid to terrorists."

This isn't the first time we have painted ourselves into a corner with that stupid, political, terrorist designation.

 

[waltky]

Measles breaks out among Somali drought refugees...

UN: 'Alarming' Measles Outbreak Among Drought-Stricken Somali
August 06, 2011 - The United Nations and Ethiopia's government are beginning a massive vaccination campaign against measles for Somali refugee children as fears rise about an outbreak effecting those already weakened by famine.

The U.N. refugee agency chief in Ethiopia, Moses Okello, said in a statement Saturday he was "shaken" by the situation he saw during a visit this week to the Dollo Ado refugee camps in south-eastern Ethiopia. He said it was urgent to act immediately. The statement said on Thursday alone, around 13 people are believed to have died from measles in the Kobe refugee camp, and more cases have been reported in other camps nearby. Measles is not typically deadly for people who are otherwise healthy, but the highly contagious virus is far more dangerous for people suffering from severe malnutrition. The U.N. said children are the most affected.

The U.N. says it has begun efforts to vaccinate children between six months and 15 years old - so far about 300 children received the shot as they were transferred from a transit center to a new camp. The refugee agency says it, along with government and NGO partners, will begin a major campaign Tuesday to vaccinate all children at the Kobe camp, which has been most affected. Health workers have also created an "isolation ward" for those suspected to be infected, in the hopes of containing the disease's spread. The vaccine provides immunity starting 14 days after being administered.

The U.N. has declared a famine in five regions of southern Somalia, and it predicts famine conditions will spread to more areas and could last until December. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled to Somalia's capital or to crowded camps in Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food and water. The United Nations says drought has left more than 12 million people across the Horn of Africa in need of food aid. The U.N. has appealed for $1.4 billion to help the victims.

Source

See also:

Al-Shabab Militants Retreat from Mogadishu
August 06, 2011 - Somalia's transitional federal government has announced that al-Shabab militants have retreated from Mogadishu, leaving the African Union-backed government in control of the capital.

Somali officials said successful military operations this week by government and African Union forces drove the al-Qaida-linked militant group out of the capital city. “The government forces and AMISOM together they fought very strong and every encounter they defeated Shabab and that's why retreat, retreat, retreat at the end. So, I think three months ago it started - the beginning of the end of Shabab,” said Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Ahmed Noor. Noor adds that government forces will continue to pursue militants in other parts of Somalia.

An al-Shabab spokesman said the group began leaving its positions in Mogadishu late Friday but he called it a strategic move and said al-Shabab was holding its positions outside the capital. Al-Shabab has been fighting to overthrow Somalia's government for the past several years and controls large areas of Somalia, including those that are worst-affected by drought and famine. Somali Prime Minister Abidweli Mohamed Ali said in a statement Saturday that the al-Shabab insurgency is a “fundamental cause of the famine.”

The group has tightly controlled the delivery of aid to famine victims and has banned access for many Western aid agencies altogether. The government has said the group also posed a threat to internally displaced people who had fled to Mogadishu. But Mayor Noor says the removal of al-Shabab does not eliminate the risk to IDPs. “It was not Shabab that was causing trouble within the IDPs: it was an enemy within here, so we have to deal with them more than we are dealing with Shabab,” he said.

Noor says that even with al-Shabab out of the picture, refugees in Mogadishu are still threatened by other militias, warlords seeking political power and war profiteers who scam vulnerable civilians. The United Nations declared last week that famine exists among the internally displaced populations of Mogadishu and the Afgoye corridor to the west of the capital. Overall, the U.N. says five districts of Somalia are in famine and more than three million people are in need of immediate live-saving assistance.

Source

 

[daveman]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

 

[Caroljo]

Money given to Hamas for humanitarian aid is a JOKE!

 

[LebanonPride]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

Money given to Hamas for humanitarian aid is a JOKE!

Money given to Israel to further bully a group of people is also a JOKE!

 

[daveman]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

So....Muslims refuse to help other Muslims -- it's Jews' fault.

Run along, kid.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

So....Muslims refuse to help other Muslims -- it's Jews' fault.

Run along, kid.

Israel controls all the money into Palestine. If I were to give money to Palestine, how would I get it there?

 

[Caroljo]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

Money given to Hamas for humanitarian aid is a JOKE!

Money given to Israel to further bully a group of people is also a JOKE!

That group of people never really existed, until they wanted to whine about the whole thing. They have no right at all to the land they're demanding, and as long as they side with Hamas they're nothing to me....

 

[daveman]

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

So....Muslims refuse to help other Muslims -- it's Jews' fault.

Run along, kid.

Israel controls all the money into Palestine.

I doubt that. Your terrorist pals and their useful idiots are good at smuggling.

If I were to give money to Palestine, how would I get it there?

Given your love for Jew-killing terrorists, I expect you know, and I expect you have.

 

[P F Tinmore]

So....Muslims refuse to help other Muslims -- it's Jews' fault.

Run along, kid.

Israel controls all the money into Palestine.

I doubt that. Your terrorist pals and their useful idiots are good at smuggling.

If I were to give money to Palestine, how would I get it there?

Given your love for Jew-killing terrorists, I expect you know, and I expect you have.

Smuggling is an interesting term. I don't believe it is illegal for Palestinians to receive donations.

 

[daveman]

Israel controls all the money into Palestine.

I doubt that. Your terrorist pals and their useful idiots are good at smuggling.

If I were to give money to Palestine, how would I get it there?

Given your love for Jew-killing terrorists, I expect you know, and I expect you have.

Smuggling is an interesting term. I don't believe it is illegal for Palestinians to receive donations.

You said Israel controls all the money going into Palestine. Make up your idiot mind.

 

[P F Tinmore]

I doubt that. Your terrorist pals and their useful idiots are good at smuggling.

Given your love for Jew-killing terrorists, I expect you know, and I expect you have.

Smuggling is an interesting term. I don't believe it is illegal for Palestinians to receive donations.

You said Israel controls all the money going into Palestine. Make up your idiot mind.

Yes, both true.

 

[daveman]

Smuggling is an interesting term. I don't believe it is illegal for Palestinians to receive donations.

You said Israel controls all the money going into Palestine. Make up your idiot mind.

Yes, both true.

Enjoy your insanity.

Say, I bet Obama's IRS will let you deduct contributions to terrorist organizations.

 

[P F Tinmore]

You said Israel controls all the money going into Palestine. Make up your idiot mind.

Yes, both true.

Enjoy your insanity.

Say, I bet Obama's IRS will let you deduct contributions to terrorist organizations.

Why not. Contributions to Israeli terrorists get deductions.

 

[daveman]

Yes, both true.

Enjoy your insanity.

Say, I bet Obama's IRS will let you deduct contributions to terrorist organizations.

Why not. Contributions to Israeli terrorists get deductions.

No such thing. Fool.

 

[CitizenPained]

Maybe Hamas can sell their weapons to raise money for the Somalis.

But they care more about killing Jews than they do about helping fellow Muslims.

Atleast Hamas has tried to do something, honestly of every country in the ME you'd expect a blockaded one to help? Ignorant, very ignorant. What has Israel done to help the starving people? Serious question, I couldn't find anything.

Money given to Hamas for humanitarian aid is a JOKE!

Money given to Israel to further bully a group of people is also a JOKE!

I fucking KNEW this would come up.

Jewish groups in the US have been advocating for Somalia for YEARS, and Israel has been sending farming, irrigation and engineering experts to African countries since its birth...not to mention the refugees it took in from Darfur.

Israeli, Jewish groups team to help famine-plagued Somalia | JTA - Jewish & Israel News

ISRAEL AT 63: Humanitarian and International Aid: A Core Israeli Value - The Israel Project

The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs