UN Declares Official Famine In Somalia

[High_Gravity]

A tortured choice in famine: Which child lives?

DADAAB, Kenya (AP) — Wardo Mohamud Yusuf walked for two weeks with her 1-year-old daughter on her back and her 4-year-old son at her side to flee Somalia's drought and famine. When the boy collapsed near the end of the journey, she poured some of the little water she had on his head to cool him, but he was unconscious and could not drink.

She asked other families traveling with them for help, but none stopped, fearful for their own survival.

Then the 29-year-old mother had to make a choice that no parent should have to make.

"Finally, I decided to leave him behind to his God on the road," Yusuf said days later in an interview at a teeming refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. "I am sure that he was alive, and that is my heartbreak."

Parents fleeing the devastating famine on foot — sometimes with as many as seven children in tow — are having to make unimaginably cruel choices: Which children have the best chance to survive when food and water run low? Who should be left behind?

"I have never faced such a dilemma in my life," Yusuf told The Associated Press. "Now I'm reliving the pain of abandoning my child. I wake up at night to think about him. I feel terrified whenever I see a son of his age."

Dr. John Kivelenge, a mental health officer for the International Rescue Committee at Dadaab emphasizes the extreme duress Somali mothers and fathers are facing.

"It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. They can't sit down and wait to die together," he said. "But after a month, they will suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, which means they will have flashbacks and nightmares.

"The picture of the children they abandoned behind will come back to them and haunt them," he said. "They will also have poor sleep and social problems."

The United States estimates that more than 29,000 Somali children under age 5 have died in the famine in the last three months. An unknown number too weak to walk farther have been abandoned on the sandy trek to help after food and water supplies ran out.

Faduma Sakow Abdullahi, a 29-year-old widow, attempted the journey to Dadaab with her baby and other children ages 5, 4, 3 and 2. A day before she reached the refugee camp, her 4-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son wouldn't wake up after a brief rest.

Abdullahi said she did not want to "waste" the little water she had in a 5-liter container on dying children when the little ones needed it.

Nor did she want to wait for too long until her other children started dying, so she stood up and walked away a few paces — then returned in the hopes the youngsters were in fact alive.

After several back-and-forth walks, she finally left her two children under a tree, unsure whether they could be resuscitated.

More than 12 million people in East Africa are in need of food aid because of the severe drought. The U.N. says 2.8 million of those are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance, including more than 450,000 in Somalia's famine zones.

A tortured choice in famine: Which child lives? - Yahoo! News

 

[Tank]

It's time to thin the herd.

 

[High_Gravity]

It's time to thin the herd.

Nobody has to do anything, its already happening. I read somewhere in that harsh region it can only sustain life for about 10-20,000 nomads, however there are millions of people living there. There is no capital coming in, no economy to speak of, the very little government they have barely controls parts of Mogadishu, and all these families seem to have so many children, I feel sorry for them the most. Nobody gets to choose to be born, or choose their parents for that matter.

 

[High_Gravity]

Famine In Africa: Clinton Announces $17 Million More For Somalia, Wants Long-Term Solution

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday described the severe drought threatening more than 12 million Africans with starvation as a stark reminder of the need to invest in global agriculture and nutrition – Obama administration goals that could be sharply limited if House Republicans get their way.

In a speech at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Clinton announced that the United States was providing another $17 million in emergency food aid to the Horn of Africa, with $12 million going to humanitarian operations in Somalia. That brings total U.S. assistance to the region to more than $580 million this year.

But Clinton stressed that the famine must prompt long-term thinking by governments and charities to avoid future food crises. Aid shouldn't only be about providing help during catastrophes, but also about boosting agriculture, nourishment levels and food distribution networks around the world so that future catastrophes can be avoided.

"While we hurry to deliver life-saving assistance, we must also maintain our focus on the future by continuing to invest in long-term food security in countries that are susceptible to drought and food shortages," she said. The basic idea is that teaching people to feed themselves means less need for emergency – and more expensive – operations later.

Clinton has her work cut out for her at home. Although she never mentioned Congress, the House Appropriations Committee has proposed steep cuts in foreign aid funding. Money for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which pays for much of the government's humanitarian assistance, would fall by $488 million to $1.04 billion. That would be $705 million below the funding request made by President Barack Obama.

At a round table discussion with reporters Wednesday, USAID Deputy Administrator Don Steinberg warned that the proposed cuts would hurt the agency's ability to improve resilience in the developing world through safety net and food-for-work programs. Sam Worthington, the president of InterAction, an umbrella group of U.S. aid organizations, said there was a "disconnect" in Congress in its discussions about foreign aid and what is happening in the Horn of Africa.

"We can't watch people starving to death," Worthington said.

The United Nations warned Wednesday the famine hasn't peaked. The long-running drought has been exacerbated by the Islamic militant group al-Shabab's refusal to allow many aid groups to deliver supplies in parts of Somalia it controls. Thousands of children have already died and more than a million Somalis have fled their homes in search of food.

The crisis is also severely affecting Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti, where millions more need support.

Clinton said the situation could have been even worse had monitors not warned governments ahead of time about escalating drought and crop conditions. The U.S. was able to pre-position food in key locations last year to prepare for the likelihood of local shortages. And as a result, less than 5 million need food in Ethiopia, "an unacceptably high number" but far below the 13 million during the last drought in 2002-2003, she said.

The biggest problem has been Somalia, which Clinton described as the "epicenter of the emergency." Unlike its neighbors, the country has no effective national governance. Insecurity linked to al-Shabab's fighting and previous killings of aid workers has made operating in the country extremely difficult.

Clinton said the U.S., nevertheless was now providing $92 million in assistance inside Somalia, and has relaxed anti-terror laws to make it easier for aid groups to deliver help. Previously, they potentially faced American prosecution if forced to pay bribes or taxes to al-Shabab, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

"But as we proceed, we must not forget that we have seen crises like this before," Clinton said. "First comes a severe drought. Then crops fail, livestock perish, food prices soar, thousands of people die from starvation – most of them children – and thousands more pick up and move. Every few decades, the cycle repeats."

Famine In Africa: Clinton Announces $17 Million More For Somalia, Wants Long-Term Solution

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Faces Cholera Epidemic: World Health Organization

GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization officials say famine-hit Somalia faces a cholera epidemic as dirty water and poor sanitation are leading to an increase in outbreaks of the disease.

WHO public health adviser Dr. Michel Yao told reporters in Geneva Friday that the number of cases has risen sharply this year, with 60 percent of 30 random lab samples taken from 4,272 people in the capital Mogadishu suffering acute watery diarrhea testing positive.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said last week that diarrhea is on the rise in Somalia, with 77 percent of cases reported in Mogadishu so far afflicting children younger than 5-years old.

Yao said there is a "high risk" of the disease spreading quickly due to water and sanitation issues "so we can say we have an epidemic."

Somalia Faces Cholera Epidemic: World Health Organization

 

[Tank]

Lots of animals die during a drought, it's natural

 

[High_Gravity]

Lots of animals die during a drought, it's natural

 

[Tank]

HG, check out this video.

Clayton County Food Stamp Snafu Angers Many

 

[High_Gravity]

HG, check out this video.

Clayton County Food Stamp Snafu Angers Many

Hmm thats odd, the county I live in recently upped their food stamps a few months ago.

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine: Food Aid Stolen

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Thousands of sacks of food aid meant for Somalia's famine victims have been stolen and are being sold at markets in the same neighborhoods where skeletal children in filthy refugee camps can't find enough to eat, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The U.N.'s World Food Program for the first time acknowledged it has been investigating food theft in Somalia for two months. The WFP said that the "scale and intensity" of the famine crisis does not allow for a suspension of assistance, saying that doing so would lead to "many unnecessary deaths."

And the aid is not even safe once it has been distributed to families huddled in the makeshift camps popping up around the capital. Families at the large, government-run Badbado camp said they were often forced to hand back aid after journalists had taken photos of them with it.

Ali Said Nur said he received two sacks of maize twice, but each time was forced to give one to the camp leader.

"You don't have a choice. You have to simply give without an argument to be able to stay here," he said.

The U.N. says more than 3.2 million Somalis – nearly half the population – need food aid after a severe drought that has been complicated by Somalia's long-running war. More than 450,000 Somalis live in famine zones controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants, where aid is difficult to deliver. The U.S. says 29,000 Somali children under the age of 5 already have died.

International officials have long expected some of the food aid pouring into Somalia to go missing. But the sheer scale of the theft taking place calls into question aid groups' ability to reach the starving. It also raises concerns about the willingness of aid agencies and the Somali government to fight corruption, and whether diverted aid is fueling Somalia's 20-year-civil war.

"While helping starving people, you are also feeding the power groups that make a business out of the disaster," said Joakim Gundel, who heads Katuni Consult, a Nairobi-based company often asked to evaluate international aid efforts in Somalia. "You're saving people's lives today so they can die tomorrow."

WFP Somalia country director Stefano Porretti said the agency's system of independent, third-party monitors uncovered allegations of possible food diversion. But he underscored how dangerous the work is: WFP has had 14 employees killed in Somalia since 2008.

"Monitoring food assistance in Somalia is a particularly dangerous process," Porretti said.

In Mogadishu markets, vast piles of food sacks are for sale with stamps on them from the World Food Program, the U.S. government aid arm USAID and the Japanese government. The AP found eight sites where aid food was being sold in bulk and numerous smaller stores. Among the items being sold were corn, grain, and Plumpy'nut – a specially fortified peanut butter designed for starving children.

An official in Mogadishu with extensive knowledge of the food trade said he believes a massive amount of aid is being stolen – perhaps up to half of aid deliveries – by unscrupulous businessmen. The percentage had been lower, he said, but in recent weeks the flood of aid into the capital with little or no controls has created a bonanza for businessmen.

Somalia Famine: Food Aid Stolen

 

[Tank]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5cX_ncZLls]Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas 1984 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine: UK Government Says Up To 400,000 Children Could Die Without More Aid

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A British government minister says up to 400,000 Somali children could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday made the first visit in 18 years by a British minister to Somalia's capital of Mogadishu, where he met with government leaders and aid groups.

Mitchell said in neighboring Kenya that Britain will give UNICEF more than $41 million in additional aid. That will allow nearly 200,000 people to have two months of supplementary food rations and vaccinations against measles for 800,000 children.

More than 12 million people need food aid in drought-struck East Africa. More than 2 million live in areas controlled by the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Somalia Famine: UK Government Says Up To 400,000 Children Could Die Without More Aid

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine: Aid Groups Say U.S. Anti-Terror Laws Are Still Holding Them Back

Aid workers struggling to combat the massive famine in Somalia say that complex American counter-terrorism rules are still impeding the delivery of aid to the region, despite recent efforts to ease those restrictions.

The counter-terrorism rules, administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), are designed to prevent incidental support from American non-governmental organizations from going to designated terrorist groups like al-Shabaab, the Islamist militant group that governs large portions of Somalia.

But with nearly 30,000 children already dead from malnourishment -- and millions more at risk -- policymakers and aid groups have increasingly said that feeding the hungry is worth the likelihood that some funds or food aid will fall into the hands of al-Shabaab.

A few weeks ago, officials at the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) produced an expanded version of the standard OFAC license, which guaranteed that no NGO that contracts with USAID, and operates in "good faith," would face prosecution if some of their materials ended up in the hands of al-Shabaab.

Humanitarian aid officials working in Somalia have applauded the move. But they say it still leaves a large -- and crucial -- portion of the aid community at risk: namely, any aid organization that does not take U.S. funding.

"There are aid resources that are being negatively impacted by this," a top official at one humanitarian NGO told The Huffington Post. "The fact that a policy decision doesn't seem to have been made is really critical. State and [USAID] said two weeks ago, ‘We've handled this, and we've covered it,’ but they haven't fully. We're looking for there to be broader coverage."

In a brief interview with The Huffington Post last week, Don Steinberg, the deputy administer of USAID, described the legal situation for non-U.S. funded NGOs as a "loophole," and said that an effort was underway to remedy it.

But Robert Laprade, the senior director for Emergencies and Humanitarian Assistance at CARE, an organization that has worked extensively in the Horn of Africa, says the problem goes beyond a simple oversight.

"You can call them loopholes, but I would say they’re more like gaps in our ability to do things quickly in Somalia," he said.

"There seems to be a lot of good will and some action and movement and seriousness about dealing with this," he added. "It's clear that [USAID] wants to get something done. The big question is, Has it gone far enough?"

"My understanding is that NGOs that have come forward individually, who don’t work with the U.S. but work on their own and asked for licenses, have been able to receive them," Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said on Tuesday. "With regard to whether there might be a more expeditious way to do that, I think our work is ongoing internally on how that might work."

NGOs say they hope the Treasury Department will forgo the cumbersome individual licensing process, and instead provide a "general license" for any legitimate aid group to work in Somalia.

"A specific license request entails a legally complex and time-consuming process that can be easily derailed by a range of agendas within the government -- creating a bureaucratic bottleneck that every applying agency would then have to navigate," said a third NGO official who has been closely involved in the policy negotiations.

"A general license solves the problem now and lets groups get to work," the official added. "A specific license approach kicks the can down the road with no assurance to humanitarian responders of whether they will be allowed to work, and under what conditions."

Aid groups admit that it's virtually impossible to quantify exactly how much aid has been withheld from the most stricken parts of southern Somalia due to lingering concerns about American counter-terrorism rules. They agree with Obama administration officials that the dangers posed by al-Shabaab, which has killed and expelled foreign aid workers in the past, are a major impediment to combating the famine.

Somalia Famine: Aid Groups Say U.S. Anti-Terror Laws Are Still Holding Them Back

 

[Ropey]

The United Nations needs to appeal to Nato and Nato needs to get a non political (read military) response to those who control the arena and who are allowing their people to die.

It takes a community to raise a child and it takes humanity to raise humans. In the birthing is born the pain of man.

It will take pain to mature humanity. This is simply sickening. (

The anti-terror laws are so that these terrorists do not continue to starve their people and sell the food supplies.

I understand. Send more and let them take all they want and then hope the other aid gets to the starving. Hope because they won't allow you to distribute. (

 

[High_Gravity]

The United Nations needs to appeal to Nato and Nato needs to get a non political (read military) response to those who control the arena and who are allowing their people to die.

It takes a community to raise a child and it takes humanity to raise humans. In the birthing is born the pain of man.

It will take pain to mature humanity. This is simply sickening. (

The anti-terror laws are so that these terrorists do not continue to starve their people and sell the food supplies.

I understand. Send more and let them take all they want and then hope the other aid gets to the starving. Hope because they won't allow you to distribute. (

I don't have much hope in that Ropey because no one is going to send a Military force into Somalia, after the 1993 Black Hawk Down thing we don't want to have boots on the ground there and I don't see anyone else taking the lead on this. Russia and China definently have the manpower but they will not because Somalia has nothing to offer. I do agree Military force needs to be used to kick Al Shabab in the balls and get the aid to the people, but I don't see anyone stepping up and doing it.

 

[Ropey]

but I don't see anyone stepping up and doing it.

I know. It's frustrating to know that the food is there to at least ward off the starvation and that these tactics thwart that distribution.

I've replaced my hope with prayers.

 

[Unkotare]

Black people starving in Africa, whats new?

Any excuse to advertise your weakness and stupidity, shitbag?

 

[High_Gravity]

but I don't see anyone stepping up and doing it.

I know. It's frustrating to know that the food is there to at least ward off the starvation and that these tactics thwart that distribution.

I've replaced my hope with prayers.

Me too, it will take an act of god to turn this situation around.

 

[Tank]

Looks like a great spot to open a KFC

 

[High_Gravity]

Looks like a great spot to open a KFC

We would need more like 100,000 KFC's with the US Army providing security otherwise Shabab would steal all the chicken.