The UN officially declared famine in two southern Somalia regions Wednesday as the world slowly mobilised to save 12 million people battling hunger in the region's worst drought in 60 years. The United States urged Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels controlling the area to allow the return of relief groups they expelled two years ago, , Valerie Amos, urged the world to make the link between climate change and the drought. Somalia is the most dangerous country in the world to work in, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program, which lost 14 relief workers in the past few years. Looting and attacks on aid convoys occur frequently.
WFP head Josette Sheeran said the group is willing to return to southern Somalia if the insurgents guarantee safe passage.
"We are absolutely fully committed to going where the hungry are," she said.
The extended drought is forcing an estimated 3,000 people a day from Somalia to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. We speak to Yves van Loo in Nairobi of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Somalia, who was in Mogadishu just two weeks ago. We also speak to investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, who recently returned from assignment in Somalia.
aid groups warned many would die without urgent action and funding. In some places, the child malnutrition rate has soared to 55% and infant deaths have reached six a day, UNICEF says. Agencies are appealing for aid to boost operations in the war- and drought-stricken nation.Eleven-month-old Abdifatah Hassan, suffering from severe malnutrition, is cared for at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders at a camp housing Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. Daily arrivals have soared from 200 to nearly 2,000 and officials at Dadaab are struggling to cope. Gezahegn Kebede, regional director of children’s charity Plan, says: “What we are seeing at Dadaab is just the tip of the iceberg. There are millions of people without enough food for themselves or their children.
“They’re spread across six countries in an area larger than Western Europe – many are on the move across some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible lands on the planet. They need help and fast.
The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, saying child malnutrition rates exceed 30% and as many as six children age 5 or younger are dying daily. The region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years and tens of thousands are feared dead.
Aid agencies are now talking about an inevitable declaration of a famine in Somalia for the first time since 1992.Then, at the height of a vicious civil war, more than 200,000 people died but many more could be threatened this time round.Habiba The main reason for the severity of this drought - as compared to the droughts of previous years - is the catastrophic and extensive death of livestock. Why is the U.S. doing so little to respond? Politics. In 2008, when most of Somalia's territory was occupied by Ethiopian troops in support of a U.S.-allied Somali government, the U.S. contributed 10 times more humanitarian aid to Somalia than it has this year. But when the Ethiopians pulled out in early 2009, most of southern Somalia was forcibly taken over by militant movements that the U.S. had designated as terrorists.
WFP head Josette Sheeran said the group is willing to return to southern Somalia if the insurgents guarantee safe passage.
"We are absolutely fully committed to going where the hungry are," she said.
The extended drought is forcing an estimated 3,000 people a day from Somalia to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. We speak to Yves van Loo in Nairobi of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Somalia, who was in Mogadishu just two weeks ago. We also speak to investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, who recently returned from assignment in Somalia.
aid groups warned many would die without urgent action and funding. In some places, the child malnutrition rate has soared to 55% and infant deaths have reached six a day, UNICEF says. Agencies are appealing for aid to boost operations in the war- and drought-stricken nation.Eleven-month-old Abdifatah Hassan, suffering from severe malnutrition, is cared for at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders at a camp housing Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. Daily arrivals have soared from 200 to nearly 2,000 and officials at Dadaab are struggling to cope. Gezahegn Kebede, regional director of children’s charity Plan, says: “What we are seeing at Dadaab is just the tip of the iceberg. There are millions of people without enough food for themselves or their children.
“They’re spread across six countries in an area larger than Western Europe – many are on the move across some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible lands on the planet. They need help and fast.
The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, saying child malnutrition rates exceed 30% and as many as six children age 5 or younger are dying daily. The region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years and tens of thousands are feared dead.
Aid agencies are now talking about an inevitable declaration of a famine in Somalia for the first time since 1992.Then, at the height of a vicious civil war, more than 200,000 people died but many more could be threatened this time round.Habiba The main reason for the severity of this drought - as compared to the droughts of previous years - is the catastrophic and extensive death of livestock. Why is the U.S. doing so little to respond? Politics. In 2008, when most of Somalia's territory was occupied by Ethiopian troops in support of a U.S.-allied Somali government, the U.S. contributed 10 times more humanitarian aid to Somalia than it has this year. But when the Ethiopians pulled out in early 2009, most of southern Somalia was forcibly taken over by militant movements that the U.S. had designated as terrorists.
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