Somalia Famine

"Landep News"

Somalia Famine

The United Nations announced on Wednesday that the number of Somali refugees countries has topped 800,000, as the drought caused by the lack of rain has caused at least two provinces of the country situated in the Horn of Africa to be declared famine-stricken.
The refugee agency of the UN also said that another 1.5 million Somalis are displaced inside the territory of their country, mainly in the capital Mogadishu and the vicinity.
The United Nations agency issued a report on Wednesday by which it says that many Somalis left their homes after the livestock died as a consequence of the drought.
The report says that since January 125,000 people fled their homes and found refuge in Kenya, while 76,000 went to Ethiopia. Another reason for the refuge besides the drought is the fighting between the al-Shabaab insurgents and the governmental forces.
Twelve million people were affected by the most severe drought that affected the Horn of Africa for the last 60 years.
The efforts of the international community to help the Somali people famished in the camps is commendable but is nearly enough considering the number of people who are affected and the fact that the food can only come in supplies airlifted.
On Tuesday, British relief agency Oxfam announced its contributors to hurry up with their donations because the situation is deteriorating every day that goes by.
A very important factor is the existence of the al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda related organization that announced it would not allow the relief agencies of the United Nations to reach the people in need.
For that reason the UN had to decide to send the help by plane, this way avoiding contact with al-Shabab and making sure that the duration is cut as much as possible, given that by sea the food would have arrived probably in weeks.
Al-Shabaab and the national forces of Somalia, supported by African Union troops, clashed at the outskirts of Mogadishu.
The AU troops and the government took this measure in order to make sure that the people in the capital would not be disturbed by Al-Shabaab, and that the food will be delivered to them.
As the Ramadan approached many people were left without enough food to break the daily fast, some of them saying that they had been fasting for months without having anything to say about it.

Somalia Famine

Al-Shabaab is known for staging attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, and that was one of the reasons the government wanted them out of town.
The situation is so desperate that the United States had to soften their position on prosecuting those who deliver American-funded food into the hands of insurgents as the anti-terror laws demand.
Even though much food has been delivered to the people in Mogadishu, where the planeloads land, there are still many parts of the country that are under al-Shabaab rule and cannot be reached by the relief teams.
Al-Shabaab is somehow part of the famine problem, given that they had denied that there was a problem in the territories they control. They considered that the UN’s claim that a famine situation existed was nothing more that “Christian propaganda” which was serving the hidden agenda of the international body.
However, it would seem that not all the al-Shabaab leaders go along with the ban on humanitarian aid, since the UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, already succeeded in taking a plane with food in the city of Baidoa, which is in the territory controlled by the Islamists.
It is believed that these local al-Shabaab leaders are more “pragmatic,” aiming solely at ousting the government in Mogadishu, without much interest in the ideals of Muslim radical organizations.
It is considered that this is the moment the UN must seize, when the situation is so delicate that even al-Shabaab leaders agree to let people come with food for the people in the territories they control.

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