Editorial
Published: September 12, 2011
Famine has pummeled the Horn of Africa generally, but Somalia has been the hardest hit — and the situation is getting worse. Severe drought-induced scarcities of food and water would pose a daunting challenge for any nation. It is even more daunting for Somalia, where a barely functioning central government and ruthless militant groups are undermining international efforts to respond to the most devastating famine in 60 years.
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U.N. Officials Say Famine Is Widening in Somalia (September 6, 2011)
It is easy to be discouraged since Somalia has long been a failing state, but the international community must not give up on urgent efforts to help the innocent victims.
United Nations officials last week said tens of thousands of Somalis died over the last three or four months, more than half of them children. The famine recently spread to a sixth area of the southern part of the country, putting 750,000 more people at risk in the next few months unless aid efforts are scaled up. Experts predict the drought will end in October, but then seasonal rains could exacerbate cholera, malaria and other diseases already infecting camps in Kenya, where more than 400,000 Somali refugees have fled.
The United Nations made an emergency appeal for $2.4 billion in July and is about $1 billion short. American officials say the bigger need is access — getting food to starving people in Mogadishu and hard-hit farming areas. The problem of delivering aid in extremely dangerous conditions seemed to ease when Shabab — a militant Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda and has been battling the Western-backed government and blocking aid — withdrew recently from Mogadishu and other regions. This retreat gave the government a chance to assert itself. But, as Jeffrey Gettleman of The Times reported last week, the Shabab and the government are splintering into competing clans and factions amid signs that the warfare between these groups will intensify.
Because it is dangerous for Westerners to operate in Somalia, the United States and other donors are trying to be more creative and use local traders to get food and medicine to vulnerable populations. Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and other gulf states — Somalia’s major trading partners — need to use their influence to persuade both the government in Mogadishu and militant groups to do more to help donors get aid to the starving. That includes water and vaccines as well as food.
East Africa is prone to famine, and the United States is working with Somalia and other countries to improve long-term food production and avert future crises. East African leaders, meeting last week in Kenya, agreed to invest in solutions to recurring droughts. That’s only a start.
They will never end devastating famines and food aid dependence if they do not also make it a priority to improve governance, eradicate corruption and end conflict in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
Despite repeated failed efforts to develop a stable political system, Somali leaders last week took steps to create a permanent and more effective government. Saudi Arabia and the gulf states should use their clout to ensure that this time Somalia makes real progress.
United Nations officials last week said tens of thousands of Somalis died over the last three or four months, more than half of them children. The famine recently spread to a sixth area of the southern part of the country, putting 750,000 more people at risk in the next few months unless aid efforts are scaled up. Experts predict the drought will end in October, but then seasonal rains could exacerbate cholera, malaria and other diseases already infecting camps in Kenya, where more than 400,000 Somali refugees have fled.
The United Nations made an emergency appeal for $2.4 billion in July and is about $1 billion short. American officials say the bigger need is access — getting food to starving people in Mogadishu and hard-hit farming areas. The problem of delivering aid in extremely dangerous conditions seemed to ease when Shabab — a militant Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda and has been battling the Western-backed government and blocking aid — withdrew recently from Mogadishu and other regions. This retreat gave the government a chance to assert itself. But, as Jeffrey Gettleman of The Times reported last week, the Shabab and the government are splintering into competing clans and factions amid signs that the warfare between these groups will intensify.
Because it is dangerous for Westerners to operate in Somalia, the United States and other donors are trying to be more creative and use local traders to get food and medicine to vulnerable populations. Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and other gulf states — Somalia’s major trading partners — need to use their influence to persuade both the government in Mogadishu and militant groups to do more to help donors get aid to the starving. That includes water and vaccines as well as food.
East Africa is prone to famine, and the United States is working with Somalia and other countries to improve long-term food production and avert future crises. East African leaders, meeting last week in Kenya, agreed to invest in solutions to recurring droughts. That’s only a start.
They will never end devastating famines and food aid dependence if they do not also make it a priority to improve governance, eradicate corruption and end conflict in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
Despite repeated failed efforts to develop a stable political system, Somali leaders last week took steps to create a permanent and more effective government. Saudi Arabia and the gulf states should use their clout to ensure that this time Somalia makes real progress.
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