UN Declares Official Famine In Somalia

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine: African Leaders Pledge $380 Million In Aid

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Associated Press) -- African leaders have pledged nearly $380 million to help famine-hit families in the Horn of Africa.

During a donor conference held Thursday at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, the African Development Bank in a statement announced a donation of $300 million for long-term development in the Horn of Africa, to be spent by 2013. Nations also pledged $28.8 million in food donations.

African leaders promised to donate $51 million, the most generous donors being Algeria with $10 million, Egypt with $6 million, and Angola with $5 million.

African leaders had been criticized for not doing enough to help those affected by the famine. The U.N. says 12.4 million people need food aid and tens of thousands have died. Aid groups had said they wanted at least $50 million from Thursday's conference.

Somalia Famine: African Leaders Pledge $380 Million In Aid

 

[freedombecki]

I'm so sorry to hear it, High Gravity. It sounds like death is imminent to many. Thanks for sharing, we'll see what can be done about this locally.

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia: Islamists Behead At Least 11 Civilians In Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali Islamist rebels have beheaded at least 11 civilians in the capital in the past two weeks, a campaign of terror that residents said Friday is designed to show the insurgency can still act in Mogadishu after withdrawing from their bases there earlier this month.

"We wake up with beheaded bodies on the streets every day," said Abdinur Marwan, who lives in a district of Mogadishu called Hewila. "They call themselves Muslims while doing what Allah banned! Everyone is trying to leave here because people are being killed like goats."

The Islamist al-Shabab militia withdrew from their bases in the Somali capital after being steadily pushed back by more heavily armed African Union forces supporting the U.N.-backed Somali government. The Islamists described the withdrawal as a "tactical retreat" and said they would still carry out operations in the capital.

Resident Afrah Abdikhayre said five decapitated bodies were found in his Suqa Holaha area last week. He says two beheaded men in Somali government uniforms and another three headless bodies were found this week.

Somalia: Islamists Behead At Least 11 Civilians In Mogadishu

 

[freedombecki]

For a generation, Somalia has been a byword for the suffering of a failed state. It has been without an effective central government since 1991, when the former government was toppled by clan militias that later turned on each other.
Since 2006, the country has faced an insurgency led by Al Shabab, one of Africa's most fearsome militant Islamist groups. Al Shabab controls much of southern Somalia and has claimed affiliation with Al Qaeda since 2007.
In the summer of 2011, the country was hard hit by a famine that extended across much of East Africa. By August, United Nations​ officials estimated that tens of thousands of Somalis had died, and that more than half a million children were on the brink of starvation.

NYTimes

Seems the United Nations is also having problems with certain Somalis who are raiding the food banks they sent to feed the starving, with the grain given being resold by profiteers. It's a no-win problem it seems.

 

[High_Gravity]

U.N. Officials Say Famine Is Widening in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya — The United Nations announced Monday that Somalia’s famine had spread to a sixth area within the country, with officials warning that 750,000 people could die in the next few months unless aid efforts were scaled up.

A combination of drought, war, restrictions on aid groups and years of chaos have pushed four million Somalis — more than half the population — into “crisis,” according to the United Nations. Agricultural production is just a quarter of what it normally is, and food prices continue to soar.

“We can’t underestimate the scale of the crisis,” said Mark Bowden, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. “Southern Somalia is the epicenter of the famine area in the Horn of Africa. It’s the source of most of the refugees, and we need to refocus our efforts.”

In July, the United Nations declared that parts of southern Somalia had met the technical criteria of famine as defined by certain thresholds of death and malnutrition rates. Since then, the famine has slowly spread, covering a large chunk of the southern third of Somalia, including parts of the capital, Mogadishu, and several farming areas, which means food production has been crippled.

On Monday, the United Nations added the entire Bay region, where nearly 60 percent of children are acutely malnourished, to the list of famine-stricken areas. When pushed for numbers on how many people have died across Somalia so far, Mr. Bowden said: “We can’t give an exact figure, but we can say tens of thousands of people have died over the last three to four months, over half of whom are children. That translates into hundreds a day.”

Somalia has lurched from crisis to crisis since its central government collapsed in 1991. There have been more than a dozen attempts to restore a functioning central government, and the United Nations is currently holding a conference in Mogadishu to bring political leaders together to discuss future plans.

But much of southern Somalia is still ruled by the Shabab, an Islamist militant group, which has forced out many large aid organizations and has even prevented starving people from fleeing drought areas. Though the International Committee of the Red Cross and several Muslim charities are bringing food aid to Shabab-controlled areas, residents there complain that gunmen steal much of the food. Similar complaints have been lodged in the government-controlled areas of Mogadishu.

Another rising concern is disease. Measles, cholera, malaria and typhoid have already begun to sweep through displaced persons’ camps, where sick and starving people have congregated in the hopes of getting aid. Aid officials predict that the drought, which has hit Kenya and Ethiopia as well, will end in October, but the ensuing rains could raise the risk of waterborne and infectious diseases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/world/africa/06somalia.html?ref=africa

 

[Tank]

Looks like Negros don't do any planning ahead, when planning on taking care of a child.

 

[Unkotare]

Fuck off you racist sack of shit. This is not the thread for your bullshit.

 

[High_Gravity]

Looks like Negros don't do any planning ahead, when planning on taking care of a child.

 

[Tank]

Where is this kids parents?

Pic from 1994

 

[High_Gravity]

Famine Hits Somalia in a World Less Likely to Intervene

DOLO, Somalia — Is the world about to watch 750,000 Somalis starve to death? The United Nations’ warnings could not be clearer. A drought-induced famine is steadily creeping across Somalia and tens of thousands of people have already died. The Islamist militant group the Shabab is blocking most aid agencies from accessing the areas it controls, and three-quarters of a million people will run out of food in the next few months, United Nations officials say.

Soon, the rains will start pounding down, but before any crops will grow, disease will bloom. Malaria, cholera, typhoid and measles will sweep through immune-suppressed populations, aid agencies say, killing countless malnourished people.

There is a déjà vu quality to all of this. In the early 1990s, Somalia was hit by famine, precipitated by similarly callous thugs blocking food aid and producing similarly appalling images of skeletal children dying in the sand. In fact, the famine back then was in the same area of Somalia, the lower third, home to powerless minority clans that often bear the brunt of this country’s chronic troubles.

But in the 1990s, the world was more willing to intervene. The United Nations rallied behind more than 25,000 American troops, who embarked on a multibillion-dollar mission to beat back the gunmen long enough to get food into the mouths of starving people.

Contrast that with what happened last week. At a lackluster famine summit meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, proposed to forcefully establish humanitarian corridors, so that food aid could be delivered to Shabab-controlled areas. Few Western donors were enthused.

“There’s no mood for intervention,” said one American official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “People remember what happened in the 1990s. ‘It doesn’t work’ was the conclusion.”

Foreign military force, analysts say, has never succeeded in solving Somalia’s problems and it is not going to solve them now. This famine is not just about the Shabab’s blocking food aid. It is about a broken state and the human wreckage it is causing.

Take Mogadishu, the capital. The Shabab more or less pulled out in August, leaving Somalia’s transitional government in control of large swathes of the city, including the sprawling camp for displaced refugees. But government “control” — and that term seems more aspirational than meaningful — does not translate into a smooth aid operation. Instead, government soldiers have looted aid trucks and shot starving people.

Somalia’s politicians are often too busy squabbling with one another to build institutions like a functioning health ministry or a sanitation department that would help drought victims. Some of the informal clusters of people camped out for aid are already breaking up, and it is not clear where the displaced people are trudging to. Many aid agencies — and Western militaries — are justifiably wary of this environment, and so far the response to the famine has been well short of what is needed to stem the crisis.

“I don’t think that there’s a case to be made that the famine can be mitigated through military intervention,” said Bronwyn E. Bruton, a democracy and governance expert who wrote a provocative essay published by the Council on Foreign Relations urging the West to withdraw from Somalia.

The African Union, which has 9,000 peacekeepers in Mogadishu, “isn’t able to safeguard the delivery of aid in Mogadishu,” Ms. Bruton said. “How could they possibly extend their reach outside the capital?”

“Theft, corruption and violence are endemic,” she added. “The problem extends past al Shabab to anybody with a gun.”

In Somalia, there are many of them. This was the problem in the 1990s. The United Nations urged American forces to disarm the warlords and their flip-flop-clad militias, but the Pentagon did not want to risk many American lives to do that. Instead, the United States opted for a narrowly-scoped intervention and then hastily withdrew after 18 servicemen were killed in an epic street battle immortalized in the “Black Hawk Down” book and movie (and video game). According to a study by the Refugee Policy Group, the American-led operation and the attendant relief effort saved around 110,000 lives, while 240,000 were lost in the famine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/w...n-world-less-likely-to-intervene.html?_r=1&hp

 

[Tank]

Where's fat ass Oprah?

 

[Ropey]

Somalia has banned foreign aid workers and journalists from entering areas controlled by al Shabaab insurgents after members of a Turkish charity took food to famine victims in an area under the Islamist group.

Nearly all aid agencies have already barred their expatriate workers from operating in Somalia as famine grips the country, due to the risk of kidnapping as the hard-line militants linked to al Qaeda control most of the southern part of the country after retreating from the capital.

However, Somali security forces briefly detained two Turks on Tuesday who went to an al Shabaab area to deliver food to famine victims, and prevented others along with a group of journalists from doing so later in the week.

"We want the starving Somalis in al Shabaab areas to be fed but we do not want the foreign workers to meet al Shabaab," Mogadishu's mayor and governor Mohamud Ahmed Nur told Reuters.

"Let the foreign aid workers hand over the relief food to the local NGOs, which can deliver to the drought victims in al Shabaab areas. The government is responsible for the security of foreign aid workers. We do not want them to be harmed. Why risk their lives?" he said late on Friday

Somalia bans foreign aid workers

Somali rebel group, Al-Shabaab, bans food aid and journalists in controlled territories where 2 million people face starvation

Somalia bans foreign aid workers from rebel areas - International - World - Ahram Online

Somalia | Yemen: Al Qaeda aiding Somalia militants, U.S. says - Los Angeles Times

A large part of Somalia is experiencing famine, which the United Nations says has put 750,000 people at risk of starvation, with hundreds of Somalis dying each day.

Al Shabaab, which is hostile to any Western intervention, itself banned food aid last year in the areas it controls in southern Somalia and kicked many groups out, saying aid creates dependency.

'Massacre' at Somalia hotel leaves at least 31 dead - Los Angeles Times

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia has banned foreign aid workers and journalists from entering areas controlled by al Shabaab insurgents after members of a Turkish charity took food to famine victims in an area under the Islamist group.

Nearly all aid agencies have already barred their expatriate workers from operating in Somalia as famine grips the country, due to the risk of kidnapping as the hard-line militants linked to al Qaeda control most of the southern part of the country after retreating from the capital.

However, Somali security forces briefly detained two Turks on Tuesday who went to an al Shabaab area to deliver food to famine victims, and prevented others along with a group of journalists from doing so later in the week.

"We want the starving Somalis in al Shabaab areas to be fed but we do not want the foreign workers to meet al Shabaab," Mogadishu's mayor and governor Mohamud Ahmed Nur told Reuters.

"Let the foreign aid workers hand over the relief food to the local NGOs, which can deliver to the drought victims in al Shabaab areas. The government is responsible for the security of foreign aid workers. We do not want them to be harmed. Why risk their lives?" he said late on Friday

Somalia bans foreign aid workers

Somali rebel group, Al-Shabaab, bans food aid and journalists in controlled territories where 2 million people face starvation

Somalia bans foreign aid workers from rebel areas - International - World - Ahram Online

Somalia | Yemen: Al Qaeda aiding Somalia militants, U.S. says - Los Angeles Times

A large part of Somalia is experiencing famine, which the United Nations says has put 750,000 people at risk of starvation, with hundreds of Somalis dying each day.

Al Shabaab, which is hostile to any Western intervention, itself banned food aid last year in the areas it controls in southern Somalia and kicked many groups out, saying aid creates dependency.

'Massacre' at Somalia hotel leaves at least 31 dead - Los Angeles Times

Al Shabab is becoming a real serious threat, to us and their own people.

 

[Ropey]

The world will take care of it's own someday HG. This is why I believe that there is something better.

There must be.

There has to be more.

 

[Tank]

Right on mother fucker!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2W4-0qUdHY]USA for Africa - We Are The World (w/M.Jackson) + Lyrics HQ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[High_Gravity]

Somalia Famine 2011: Food Assistance Reaching Half Of Those In Need

NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.N. on Wednesday said food assistance has reached nearly half the Somalis in need, though it warned cases of diarrhea and cholera could spike with the seasonal rains expected in October.

Famine relief has gotten to about 1.85 million Somalis, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reports that cases of diarrhea and cholera are down, though October rains could pose a high risk of transmission of waterborne diseases in highly populated camps for those displaced by the famine.

Tens of thousands of Somalis already have died from a lack of food, and the U.N. says 750,000 more are at risk of death from famine in the next four months. Six areas in southern Somalia have been declared famine zones.

Despite an increase in food aid in Mogadishu, Somalis in filthy camps for the internally displaced continue to die. Food aid is being siphoned off by corrupt powerbrokers, and government soldiers have stolen food.

Somalia Famine 2011: Food Assistance Reaching Half Of Those In Need

 

[Ropey]

The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) confessed that for over a year it has been looking to the routine theft of food relief to famine ravaged Somalia. An earlier investigation by the Associated Press revealed that as much as fifty percent of food donated to the Somali relief efforts is ending up being sold on the open industry by unscrupulous merchants - Food help to Somalia being ripped off and sold in market. *sigh* It's really not surprising, but tragically they're supposed to be there to help not the other way around.

 

[High_Gravity]

The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) confessed that for over a year it has been looking to the routine theft of food relief to famine ravaged Somalia. An earlier investigation by the Associated Press revealed that as much as fifty percent of food donated to the Somali relief efforts is ending up being sold on the open industry by unscrupulous merchants - Food help to Somalia being ripped off and sold in market. *sigh* It's really not surprising, but tragically they're supposed to be there to help not the other way around.

An armed force needs to be on the ground to distribute this aid, but after what happened in 1993 and now this new Al Shabab threat, nobody wants to put boots on the ground. The African union forces have been useless for the most part.

 

[Ropey]

The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) confessed that for over a year it has been looking to the routine theft of food relief to famine ravaged Somalia. An earlier investigation by the Associated Press revealed that as much as fifty percent of food donated to the Somali relief efforts is ending up being sold on the open industry by unscrupulous merchants - Food help to Somalia being ripped off and sold in market. *sigh* It's really not surprising, but tragically they're supposed to be there to help not the other way around.

An armed force needs to be on the ground to distribute this aid, but after what happened in 1993 and now this new Al Shabab threat, nobody wants to put boots on the ground. The African union forces have been useless for the most part.

The dream of NATO is a nightmare imo.

 

[High_Gravity]

The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) confessed that for over a year it has been looking to the routine theft of food relief to famine ravaged Somalia. An earlier investigation by the Associated Press revealed that as much as fifty percent of food donated to the Somali relief efforts is ending up being sold on the open industry by unscrupulous merchants - Food help to Somalia being ripped off and sold in market. *sigh* It's really not surprising, but tragically they're supposed to be there to help not the other way around.

An armed force needs to be on the ground to distribute this aid, but after what happened in 1993 and now this new Al Shabab threat, nobody wants to put boots on the ground. The African union forces have been useless for the most part.

The dream of NATO is a nightmare imo.

There are only a few countries in NATO with a capable Military, the rest is window dressing IMO.