UN Declares Official Famine In Somalia

[High_Gravity]

UN Declares Official Famine In Somalia

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations has officially declared the food crisis in parts of Somalia a "famine" and reiterated its desperate call for more aid from donor countries.

“If we don’t act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks,” said Mark Bowden, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, in a statement. “We still do not have all the resources for food, clean water, shelter and health services to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalis in desperate need."

Despite the fact that it is commonly used to refer to widespread hunger situations, famine is actually a carefully used term of art in the humanitarian world, indicating that hunger-related deaths have reached 2 per 10,000 per day and acute malnutrition rates are at 30%.

The UN said today that in some of the most-affected parts of Somalia the acute malnutrition rate has reached fifty percent, and 5 children per 10,000 die every day from lack of food.

A famine has not been formally declared since 1984, when conditions in Ethiopia and Somalia caused the deaths of more than a million people.

In a statement released early this morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "deeply concerned by the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa" and pointed to the more than $400 million in aid delivered to the region by the United States.

"But it is not enough," she went on. "The need is only expected to increase and more must be done by the United States and the international community."

There are currently more than 11 million people in need of food aid in the Horn of Africa, where the most severe drought in half a century occurred this spring, nearly wiping out crops that were already depleted.

Rajiv Shah, the head of the US Agency for International Development, visited a refugee camp in Kenya on Wednesday, where thousands of Somalis arrive every day seeking food. He reported horrible conditions among the refugees, especially children.

UN Declares Official Famine In Somalia

 

[Mad Scientist]

Who and where are Somalias leaders? They've been in Civil War since 1991 and there are no leaders to speak of? Sending them bags of food won't do anything if they continue to be a failed state.

If the UN really cared, they'd invade Somalia rather than Libya.

 

[High_Gravity]

Who and where are Somalias leaders? They've been in Civil War since 1991 and there are no leaders to speak of? Sending them bags of food won't do anything if they continue to be a failed state.

If the UN really cared, they'd invade Somalia rather than Libya.

Somalia is a death trap, the UN did go into Somalia before and it was a disaster, I agree with you that just sending food won't help in the long run but invading them won't do anything either.

 

[waltky]

The famine in Somalia is part of the larger Horn of Africa drought...

U.N.: Somalis dying in world's worst famine in 20 years
20 July`11 — Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared dead in the world's worst famine in a generation, the U.N. said Wednesday, and the U.S. said it will allow emergency funds to be spent in areas controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants as long as the fighters do not interfere with aid distributions.

Exhausted, rail-thin women are stumbling into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet, having left weaker family members behind along the way. "Somalia is facing its worst food security crisis in the last 20 years," said Mark Bowden, the U.N.'s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia. "This desperate situation requires urgent action to save lives … it's likely that conditions will deteriorate further in six months."

The crisis is the worst since 1991-92, when hundreds of thousands of Somalis starved to death, Bowden said. That famine prompted intervention by an international peacekeeping force, but it eventually pulled out after two American Black Hawk helicopters were shot down in 1993. Since then, Western nations have mainly sought to contain the threat of terrorism from Somalia — an anarchic nation where the weak government battles Islamic militants on land and pirates hijack ships for millions of dollars at sea.

Oxfam said $1 billion is needed for famine relief. On Wednesday, the U.S. announced an additional $28 million in emergency funding on top of the $431 million in assistance already given this year. Most importantly, as long as the Islamists don't interfere with aid distributions, those new U.S. funds aren't restricted under rules implemented in 2009 that are designed to keep food and money from being stolen by the insurgency.

"If (the insurgents) are willing to allow access we are willing to stand fully with the humanitarian actors," said Dr. Raj Shah, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Aid groups have repeatedly called for the restrictions to be lifted and say the rules severely limited their operations in the past two years. U.S. humanitarian contributions in Somalia fell from $237 million in 2008 to $29 million last year.

MORE

See also:

UN declares famine in Somalia: How to help
July 20, 2011 - The UN officially declared a famine in some parts of southern Somalia today. The UN alone says it needs $300 million in the next two months to provide adequate aid. Here's how you can help.

The United Nations has officially declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia and warned that without action, famine-level conditions could soon spread to the rest of the south. More than 100,000 Somalians have fled to refugee camps in Kenya to escape the famine, brought on by the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in half a century.

According to Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, about half of its population (3.7 million people) is in crisis and about 10 million people in the Horn of Africa region are at risk for famine. Somalia is worst-off because of perpetual government instability and the threat of Islamist militant group Al Shabab, which have made delivery of aid challenging, CNN reports.

Mr. Bowden appealed for more aid on Wednesday, saying that the UN would need $300 million in the next two months to provide an adequate intervention.

MORE

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine Partly To Blame On War And Corruption

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somali soldiers beat back desperate families with gun butts Thursday as they fought for food supplies in front of a weeping diplomat, a day after the U.N. declared parts of the country were suffering from the worst famine in a generation.

"I will knock on every door I can to help you," the African Union envoy to Somalia, Jerry Rawlings, told the gathered families in the capital of Mogadishu.

Somalia's 20-year-old civil war is partly to blame for turning the drought in the Horn of Africa into a famine. Analysts warned that aid agencies could be airlifting emergency supplies to the failed state 20 years from now unless the U.N.-backed government improves.

"Corruption is a major part of the problem in Somalia," said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group. "This drought did not come out of nowhere, but the (Somali) government did not do anything to prepare for it. Instead they spent all their time fighting each other."

The U.N. has appealed for $300 million to over the next two months and aid agencies warn it will take at least $1 billion to provide emergency food, medicine and shelter for 11 million people in East Africa until the end of the year. Pictures of skeletal children and grief-stricken mothers stare out from Western newspapers in mute appeal.

The suffering is real. The U.N. believes tens of thousands have already died in the inaccessible interior, held by al-Qaida linked Islamist rebels who denied many aid agencies access for two years. The thorny scrub around the overflowing refugee camps in Kenya is littered with tiny corpses abandoned by mothers to weak to even dig their children a grave.

But Somalis will continue to suffer unless the international backers who support the Somali government also demand that it does a better job, said Abdirazak Fartaag, who headed the government's finance management unit until he fled the country after writing a report detailing tens of millions of dollars in missing donations from Arab nations.

"The Somalis are very grateful for what the international community is doing for them, but they need to be a bit more forceful in holding our politicians to account," Fartaag said.

Currently, the government only holds half of the capital with the help of 9,000 African Union peacekeepers. The salaries of 10,000 Somali soldiers are paid by the U.S. and Italy, and the police are paid by the European Union.

Story continues below
Advertisement
The rest of south-central Somalia is held by insurgents who kidnap children to use as child soldiers and carry out stonings and amputations. Last year, the group claimed responsibility for their first international terror attack, killing 76 people in Uganda.

Abdi said some Somali politicians continued to be corrupt because they gambled that the international community would not withdraw its support and allow the Islamists to take over the whole of southern Somalia.

"They know they're the only game in town," he said.

There may be some small signs of progress. This week, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed announced a new cabinet – the third in less than a year – and said his government had deposited $500,000 for drought relief in a public account that any donations can be sent to. Some displaced families in the capital said the government had distributed bananas and dried food.

Somalia Famine Partly To Blame On War And Corruption: Analysts

 

[Mr. H.]

40% of the u.s. corn crop is diverted to making ethanol. A crime in itself.

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

off topic, but somewhat close to home.

government did not do anything to prepare for it. Instead they spent all their time fighting each other

HG - what can be done?

 

[Tank]

Black people starving in Africa, whats new?

 

[hortysir]

How many billions is the UN *requiring* everyone to give?

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

Tank you do have a point. And that is precisely the problem.

ETA: the problem isn't that you have a point! It is that the problem has been pervasive for decades.

 

[Tank]

We feed them, they breed them.

 

[CitizenPained]

It's just now official? Somehow I've been under the impression that Somalia has been in a famine for several years.

 

[High_Gravity]

It's just now official? Somehow I've been under the impression that Somalia has been in a famine for several years.

Somalia has always had a problem with famine but now its actually worse because they haven't been getting alot of rain and what little crops they did have are gone, add that in with no infrastructure, very little government and a choatic society and this is what you get.

 

[High_Gravity]

off topic, but somewhat close to home.

government did not do anything to prepare for it. Instead they spent all their time fighting each other

HG - what can be done?

I really wish I knew Kiki, sending in a Military force won't do much good because the people will reject it like they did in 1993. Just throwing food and money at the Somalis is a short term solution to a long term problem, because we will be right back at this again in 10 years. I would like to see the Somalis build on what little government they have and try to expand it, but of course these things are obviously easier said than done.

 

[KissMy]

40% of the u.s. corn crop is diverted to making ethanol. A crime in itself.

If Africa & the Middle East would sell US Oil at a reasonable price then we would sell them food at a reasonable price. If we got cheap oil from them then we would not burn their food.

 

[High_Gravity]

According to Al Shabab everything is fine folks, nothing to see here.

Somalia Famine Tag Is Propaganda: al-Shabab Militant Group

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A spokesman for Somalia's most dangerous militant group says it won't allow banned aid workers into the areas it controls.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage is calling the U.N.'s declaration of famine in parts of Somalia politically motivated and pure propaganda.

Tens of thousands of hungry Somalis have fled on foot to neighboring Kenya.

A prolonged drought turned into famine in part because neither the Somali government or aid agencies can fully operate in areas of southern Somalia controlled by the group al-Shabab.

The U.S. agreed to allow emergency aid to be spent in areas controlled by al-Shabab so long as the militants didn't disrupt distribution efforts. But the al-Shabab spokesman said late Thursday aid workers were still banned.

Somalia Famine Tag Is Propaganda: al-Shabab Militant Group

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia: Famine, Al-Shabaab Complicate U.S. Food Delivery In Face of Severe Malnutrition

WASHINGTON – International organizations working to mitigate the devastating famine conditions in Somalia are actively looking for alternative solutions to work around rigid American restrictions on delivering funds to terrorist organizations, several officials said Thursday.

The portions of Somalia that are most desperately in need of assistance are mainly areas controlled by al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group that has been formally designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Delivering aid to these regions had been virtually impossible until last week, when al-Shabaab put out a call for international assistance.

In a feisty press conference late on Wednesday, Mark Bowden, the head of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia, told reporters that the time had come for Western nations to set aside their concerns about the political risks of working with al-Shabaab, and focus on getting aid to the nearly four million people estimated to be in danger of severe malnutrition in the country.

"The risks involved with working with al-Shabaab have been a matter of considerable discussion here," Bowden said. "No operation in Africa, and particularly Somalia, is risk free, but what we're saying is that donors have to share some of the risk that organizations already working there are dealing with."

Bowden added that since the U.S. imposed new restrictions on the delivery of aid to al-Shabaab-controlled areas of Somalia two years ago, it has dropped from the country's number one donor to "number seven or eight."

"In previous years they were a very important donor and I hope they can find methods to get assistance to Somalia, either across the border or by other means," Bowden said. "It is important that all donors are increasing their levels of support, but more important that they make their support more available."

Asked about this at a later press conference on Wednesday, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the U.N., said the blame fell with al-Shabaab, which, until its recent about-face, had made humanitarian work in the country dangerous -- if not impossible.

"The challenge has been access for the humanitarian agencies, particularly in the south and the central region, and it's been blocked deliberately as a matter of policy by al-Shabaab," Rice said. "And al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation by preventing its own people from being able to access critically needed assistance."

Donald Steinberg, the deputy administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in a press conference on Wednesday that the U.S. was intent on finding ways to deliver aid to southern Somalia that wouldn't break existing American law.

But Steinberg added that this would only be possible if the U.N. and other NGOs could "tell us affirmatively" that aid workers could operate safely, and that no funds would be siphoned off or taxed by al-Shabaab.

The U.N., and OCHA in particular, have long made little secret of their frustrations with the American approach to foreign humanitarian aid and the country's self-imposed restrictions on working with groups that have been designated as terrorists.

"He's been frustrated for a long time," Stephanie Bunker, a spokeswoman for OCHA in New York, said of Bowden on Thursday. "He is the humanitarian coordinator for this country [Somalia], he's trying to coordinate the aid and he hasn't had enough aid to coordinate. He's been banging the drum about this for a long time. And we feel that the world has not been listening hard enough."

Several people experienced in the delivery of humanitarian aid in strife-ridden third-world countries told The Huffington Post that the conditions levied by USAID may prove difficult to overcome, particularly the prohibition on paying any bribes or taxes.

Under-the-table exchanges are just part of the cost of doing business, and are often worth it when lives are at imminent risk, they said.

Somalia: Famine, Al-Shabaab Complicate U.S. Food Delivery In Face of Severe Malnutrition

 

[editec]

Damned if we do and damned uf we do, I think, in the case of Somalia.


Apparently its not safe for humanitarian workers to go in to distribute food, and if they aren't in charge of distribution, the food doesn't go to the people, it goes onto the market and the local warlords pocket the profits.

Perhaps this is a problem that we can solve by insisting that the Somalis cut capital gains taxes and deregulate the stranglehold that the warlords have on businesses?

I don't really know, but that seems to be the solution for every social ill according to some WONKS I hear on the media.

 

[High_Gravity]

Damned if we do and damned uf we do, I think, in the case of Somalia.


Apparently its not safe for humanitarian workers to go in to distribute food, and if they aren't in charge of distribution, the food doesn't go to the people, it goes onto the market and the local warlords pocket the profits.

Perhaps this is a problem that we can solve by insisting that the Somalis cut capital gains taxes and deregulate the stranglehold that the warlords have on businesses?

I don't really know, but that seems to be the solution for every social ill according to some WONKS I hear on the media.

Maybe we should just let the African union take care of this and stay out? I don't want any of our moneys or food going to those Al Shabab cock suckers.

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

And the people suffer at the hands of "leaders"...