DROUGHT IN EAST AFRICA AFFECTING 12 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

[nancyk58]

OCHA, UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaris, states in a report to the countries that have sent aid to Somalia that the crisis in the southern Somalia is expected to worsen in the coming months so that all of South Somalia will be hit by FAMINE.

 

Famine has already been declared in 2 regions - in the Bakool province and in areas around the lower part of the Shabelle river.

 

(Source: Danish text-TV on DR1)

[nancyk58]

Urban (Danish free paper) from Friday 29 July 2011

 

6 KILLED IN SOMALI FIGHTS OVER EMERGENCY AID

 

African forces have started an offensive in order to protect the emergency aid in Somalia. News agency AP reports this according to the Danish newspaper Politiken online (politiken.dk). "These efforts will make sure that relief agencies can continue to get life-saving / vital supplies to those displaced", says Paddy Ankunda who is spokesman of the African Union forces in Somalia. Al-Shabaab has condemned the international relief agencies, because they see them as "anti-muslim", but earlier this month their official condemnation was withdrawn - but only for a short period of time. Last week they re-introduced the ban on the relief agencies in the hunged-stricken region.

[chuck kottke]

It's strange when anyone denies a crisis, it's either out of pride and insensitivity, or out of a desire to punish those who are suffering. What I am hearing is that it is from wounded pride or an unwillingness to admit to a serious problem. So maybe our approach has been too rough and dismissive of the region under Al Shabab control, compounded by the past incursion into Somali territory by US forces. To offer help is difficult to regions controlled by those with extreme views; for them it's only their brethren who may enter such places, any outsiders are viewed with suspicion or as godless people. So when disaster strikes hard, these are difficult places to get aid to, because of who's in control.

So the question then is how best to approach the matter? Perhaps protection is in order, due to the desperate nature of those who choose banditry in such a place; a place which offers little hope of getting ahead any other way.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters, posts II on 30.7.11

 

 

AL-SHABAAB: THEY USE THE DROUGHT TO GET ACCESS TO SOMALIA

 

According to Al-Shabaab the drought in Somalia is "used by our enemies abroad", said a spokesman for the islamistic al-Shabaab.

 

- "Their new strategy is to move people abroad, in particular to Christian countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya so that their faith can be destroyed and so that they can become crew and soldiers for the Christian", said sheik Ali Muhamad Rage in the movement's radio.

 

He claimed that local traders or businessmen plus muslim helpers can provide the starving population with sufficient emergency aid.

 

Text-TV on Swedish SVT

 

 

UNs SECOND DELIVERY OF AID FOR THOUSANDS OF MALNOURISHED CHILDREN ARRIVED

 

The UN organization World Food Programma (WFP) called for more donations and the organizations need twice the spent 250 million dollar in order to be able to help the 11.5 million starving people.

 

The organization Medicins sans Frontiers (MSF) criticizes that the aid packages arriving in Mogadishu cannot be distributed / handed out due to fights.

 

Text-TV on German ZDF Text

[nancyk58]

FIRST PLANE WITH EMERGENCY AID FROM GERMANY TO THE STARVING PEOPLE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

 

Saturday evening, the first plane with 30 tons of emergency aid from the organization Humedica took off from Munich and is heading for Nairobi in Kenya from where the supplies of food and medicaments will be transported by truck to the refugee camp in the Dadaab region.

 

Text-TV on German ZDF (ZDF Text)

 

 

The German Federal minister of Economic Cooperation and development, Dirk Niebel is against military intervention in favour of the starving people in Somalia. He thinks that the Arab countries must be involved, and African Union (AU) must seek dialogue with the al-Shabaab militsia.

 

The vice president of the World Hunger Relief and the former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Töpfer, wants UN forces to intervene. The emergency aid does not reach the starving population due to tribal feuds and terrorismus.

 

 

Text-TV on German ZDF (ZDF Text)

[nancyk58]

This is the world we live in - we're waiting to get clearance to fly 14 tonnes of France's finest Plumpy'nut to Somalis in need. What a name for a product! :laugh3: Gotta laugh sometimes, or all we do is cry.

Oh lord, why can't this operation get underway? Waiting is deadly, better get that Plumpy'nut in the air!

I just don't get it. If the problems are the result of resource struggles over water and food, which cripples the economy, and further destabilize the people, why not just get things going?

Send it! Work with the difficult people if need be, but when health and life are at stake, there's no time to dicker.

Then, do the necessary things to conserve water resources - send equipment, build earthen berms to catch water during downpours, save it for dry spells. Drill wells, set up pumps, run them with wind and solar that is perennial there.

If necessary, pump brackish water, salty water, set up desalination plants in Mogadishu, start a green economy there to do it.

They'll run with the ball, given them a chance - just prime the pump.

 

You know, if we here in the US spent 1/10th the money we spend on military, we could help solve all these problems, and end the frustrations that lead some to the extreme. The peace dividend requires a peace investment. And once established, the democracies would seed themselves, green the deserts, and return a world of peace and prosperity for all.

 

 

 

AFRICAN UNION WILL HOLD A DONOR CONFERENCE ON 9 AUGUST IN ADDIS ABEBA IN ETHIOPIA TO ENSURE MORE DONATIONS / PLEDGES OF MONEY FOR THE HUNGER VICTIMS

 

 

"I ask the African continent to consider how it can contribute to relieving the suffering", says Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission.

 

"Around the world, everybody has to contribute to saving Somalia's population from this hunger disaster", he says.

 

Text-TV from Danish TV2 News

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS on 1 AUGUST 2011

 

 

Text-TV on German TV channel 2 / ZDF Text: UN: SITUATION IN SOMALIA GETS WORSE AND WORSE

 

The situation in the hunger-stricken areas in East Africa worsens day by day according to the United Nations.

 

 

MORE THAN 12 MILLION PEOPLE - AROUND 12.4 - IN SOMALIA, KENYA, ETHIOPIA AND DJIBOUTI NEED HELP URGENTLY.

 

The number increases day by day, says Valerie Amos, coordinator of UNs emergency aid.

 

TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE HAVE DIED, and HUNDRED THOUSANDS ARE AT RISK OF STARVING TO DEATH.

 

Despite aid - by truck and air - with food and water, vast areas in South Somalia are completely cut off (from receiving help).

 

It has started to RAIN in Somalia.

 

The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya now houses 400,000 people, and each day sees the arrival of 1,300 to 1,400 new refugees.

[nancyk58]

Translation of interesting article from the Danish paper "Berlingske Tidende" -

Sunday 31.7.11

 

HUNGER. Journalist Rasmus Tantholdt reports from Mogadishu - more than 100,000 people have fled to the capital Mogadishu

 

"THEY DO NOT HAVE THE STRENGTH ANYMORE TO CRY"

 

By Rasmus Tantholdt //[email protected]

 

The girl in her mother's arms does not look like a human being anymore. The skin is dusty and wrinkly, and arms and legs are thin like those of a baby. Her head is narrow and the cheeks so sunken that I can see the molars through her skin!! The eyes are protruding and dim/blur.

They do not have the strength anymore to cry.

 

We are in a refugee camp in Somalia's capital Mogadishu where we make several takes of a spot for the news at 22 o'clock.

 

The mother and the child are sitting on the ground together with other mothers and their starving children, while TV2's photographers Anders Bach and Morten Storch are filming. I squat in front of them. The girl is different being the most fragile of them all. She appears to be around 2 years old, and I think that she will probably die during the evening or tomorrow. The mother tells me that her daughter is 6-years-old.

 

She is almost at the same age as my own boy, I think. After one week in Mogadishu with visits in refugee camps every day, then it is suddenly too much for me. I cannot bear/endure seeing several children at the edge of the grave, and I can no longer contain myself and my easy life. I will not show my tears to the many mothers who can reflect/mirror their own misery in them. I get up and turn my back on them. Photographer Morten Storch stands in front of me when I turn around. He is also crying.

 

FROM ONE HELL TO ANOTHER

 

The famine has hit the Horn of Africa again. By far most media have chosen to cover the story from the world's largest refugee camp Dadaab in Kenya. Ten thousands of people have fled to that camp from Somalia where the refugees receive aid from the large international relief agencies while journalists and photographers from the entire world are busy propagating the disaster.

 

It is not like that in Mogadishu. By far not. Here, there are neither many relief agencies nor many media despite the fact that more than 100,000 people have fled to the capital or the area surrounding it. It is probably due to the fact that it is both dangerous and expensive to stay in the capital. We pay well over 6,500 DKK per day for 12 armed guards following every step we make in the capital destroyed by war.

 

From the roof of our guest house, every night we can see the light tracers from the projectiles flying forwards and backwards over the frontline.

 

Ugandan soldiers from the African Union and various militsia groups are fighting the islamic movement al-Shabaab which controls vast areas of Mogadishu and all of the southern part of the country which is worst hit by famine. The refugees come from this part of the country.

 

They have walked several hundred kilometers in order to get to Mogadishu. Around 1,000 arrive every day. From one hell to another. They have heard that they can get help here, but most of them will be disappointed.

 

FINDING A PLACE IN THE CAMP OR IN THE GRAVE?

 

We meet a large family that has just arrived. One of the elderly show us his bare feet - swollen, dirty and full of cuts. He tells us that they had to leave several children in one side of the road - they had died from hunger and exhaustion. They did not have the strength to bury them. A volunteer from a Somali relief agency receives the family. They are not offered food or water. There is nothing left. Patiently they squat - waiting.

A few meters from them, they can see a newly established place with graves. Seven children have been buried here during the last 2 days. I ask myself what is awaiting the hungry children in that family. Food, water and a place in the camp or nothing and a place in the grave?

 

The refugee camp is already overcrowded, and the resources are minimal. The Irish aid agency Concern is helping the Somali emergency organization that is present with a few volunteers. They have no people in Mogadishu, but in cooperation with the Somalis they have distributed emergency aid to the camp. It is by far not enough. The head of the camp tells us that it only covers ¼ - one fourth – of the needs. There is no one to cover the rest.

 

Therefore, children starve to death every single day in the camp which is among the smallest in Mogadishu. Around 1,000 refugees are now living here, and every day sees new refugees arriving in the already overcrowded camp.

 

We meet a family that have walked 250 kilometers to get there. After having waiting for one hour they are told that there is no space. They must try one of the other camps in Mogadishu.

 

They get up and walk away.

 

500 TONNES OF UNTOUCHED MAIZE / CORN

 

Around 1,000 metres away - in a little warehouse in the harbour in Mogadishu - UNs World Food Programme has its emergency stocks. Thousands of 25 kilo maize bags are piled up in good 10m height. They are filling well over half of the warehouse which is almost as big as a football ground. We find stocktakings according to which maize has been distributed currently from the warehouse, but that more than 500 tonnes of maize has been untouched in the warehouse for 3 months. At the same time, Somali heads of camp in 3 out of the 4 refugee camps we have visited in Mogadishu tell us that they have not received emergency aid from the warehouse at the harbor. We are surprised, and so are many refugees, local relief agencies and politicians in Mogadishu.

 

4 days later, UNs World Food Programme issues a press release. The first aircraft with emergency aid has landed in Mogadishu as part of a newly established airlift. The UN aircraft brings 10 tonnes of emergency aid.

 

ONE CHILD LEFT

 

That it is difficult to distribute emergency aid in Mogadishu is clear wherever we go. Also at one of the hospitals in Mogadishu. We are asked to wait in the car while our guards with their AK 47 rifles examine the hospital. It seems to be unnecessary, but according to our interpreter it is very difficult to move around as a foreigner in Mogadishu.

 

Even though al-Shabaab does not control this part of Mogadishu, they are everywhere, and they have succeeded in kidnapping several foreigners. Therefore, there are only few foreign relief workers permanently in Mogadishu. We have heard that, but we have not met any.

 

At the hospital we see mainly very young patients - all children. They are lying everywhere in the corridors. On the floor, on benches and on tables. Only few of them are lying in a room in one bed.

 

One of them is 6-year-old Abdullah. He is sweating. He has fever/a temperature. His mother tells us that he has diarrhoea, and he vomits. He will not consume any food like many other children. The volunteering Somali nurses in the hospital try to force them to eat by holding their heads and forcing them to open the mouth with their fingers.

 

A nurse tells us that the most used medicine is care. They have hardly any real medicine, and the help they have received does not come from international emergency agencies, but from local wealthy Somalis. Abdullah is the last child that the single mother has left. 4 other children have starved to death, she says.

 

Like several children in the refugee camp where I have turned my back on the reality because I can no longer stand facing it. I feel like vomiting due to the contrast between the life in front of me and my own life. Here I am crying while the people who have every reason to (cry) do not. They are just staring at me. I feel ashamed.

 

 

BRIEFING

 

 

FAMINE

 

The Horn of Africa experiences the worst drought for 60 years

 

UNs World Food Programme estimates that 11.3 million people in the Horn of Africa desperately need food

 

The Danish government has advanced 85 million DKK for the hunger disaster in East Africa after pressure from the opposition

 

Worst hit is Somalia where the UN has declared a state of FAMINE. 5 million need help urgently, and more than 1 million children are at risk of dying

 

Apart from Somalia the drought has also hit Kenya and Ethiopia hard. It is not yet quite clear how bad the situation is in these 2 countries.

[nancyk58]

THE FAMINE WORSENS IN SOMALIA DESPITE AID (text-TV on Swedish SVT and German ZDF Text)

 

 

The UN warns that the FAMINE in the HORN OF AFRICA could soon cover 5 or 6 more regions in Somalia.

 

According to UNICEF, almost 800,000 CHILDREN IN SOMALIA are severely MALNOURISHED.

 

More than 12 million people need urgent aid. Worst is the situation in Somalia where 3.7 million people are starving.

 

The United Nations appeals to the world community.

 

About 16 billion Danish kroner or 50% more than a few weeks ago is needed.

 

The last couple of weeks, the UN and Red Cross have transported thousands tonnes of food to Somalia, but according to the UN: MUCH MORE IS NEEDED.

 

The world community / UN has already pledged 1 billion dollar (or 700 million Euro), but additional 1.4 billion dollar is needed.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO THE SITUATION IN EAST AFRICA ON 3 AUGUST 2011

 

 

UNICEF ASKS AIRLINES FOR HELP

 

- "Quick help is double help", says Steen Andersen, who is the secretary-general in Unicef, Denmark.

 

Unicef asks the airlines for assistance with transporting the emergency aid to the drought-stricken and totally crisis-stricken East Africa.

 

Without prompt assistance, 700,000 children in the Horn of Africa are at risk of starving to death within the next couple of weeks.

 

Lufthansa, British Airways and Virgin are already assisting Unicef after having received the untraditional appeal.

 

We have no pledges from Danish airlines - yet", says Steen Andersen.

 

(Text-TV on Danish DR1)

[nancyk58]

Danes have donated 6 million Danish kroner to Danish Red Cross earmarked for this organization's relief in East Africa.

 

The International Red Cross - cooperating with Somalia's Red Crescent - appeals to the international community for the equivalent of 450 million Danish kroner earmarked for relief to 1 million people who urgently need food aid in the Horn of Africa.

[nancyk58]

ARTICLE IN DANISH NEWSPAPER BERLINGSKE TIDENDE ON FRIDAY, 5 AUGUST 2011 about FAMINE IN EAST AFRICA

 

LABYRINTH. What is the UN to do? Negotiate to make sure that the emergency aid reaches the starving, take a tough line or both at the same time? Only one thing is certain. More funds must be raised if the hunger disaster is to be brought to an end.

 

HOW DO WE CHECK / CURB FAMINE IN EAST AFRICA ?

 

By Martin Tønner ( //[email protected]) / translated by Nancy Boysen

 

BARCELONA: The UN has declared a state of FAMINE in additional 3 areas of Somalia including the region around the capital Mogadishu. That means that 2 out of 10,000 inhabitants are now starving to death each day in Somalia, and that more than 30% suffers from acute malnourishment. Experts warn that wider areas of East Africa risk getting hit in coming weeks and months.

 

What can the UN and the international community do in order to fight famine – and not least the sabotage from the islamistic al- Shabaab militsia that has transformed a drought-caused crisis into a humanitarian disaster?

 

1. Traditional emergency aid

 

The airlift with food, tents and other basic necessaries for the camps housing hundred thousands of Somalis fleeing hunger has got well off the ground. Inside the famine-stricken al-Shabaab-controlled areas aid has only arrived to a very little – minimal – extent. But irrespective of the problems, here the available resources are by far not sufficient.

 

According to the UN, so far it has only been possible to raise less than half of the amount needed to feed the population in the famine-threatened areas for the next 3-4 months. These areas consist of the SOUTHERN SOMALIA as well as parts of ETHIOPIA, KENYA, DJIBOUTI and UGANDA.

The account is short of 1.4 billion dollars, according to estimates made by OCHA, UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The public and private donors as well as the media woke up only when – at the end of July - the UN used the “F-word “ (F for FAMINE) to describe the situation. Before that, the organization had for months warned of what was coming without any response.

 

2. Negotiations

At the end of July, al-Shabaab renewed its ban on relief work in the militsia-controlled areas. The boycott is in particular aimed at major aid agencies such as UNs World Food Programme (WFP).

Apparently, in the last couple of weeks several minor NGOs have succeeded in transporting emergency aid into the worst-hit areas - according to some sources via good contacts among al-Shabaab’s more pragmatic leaders. Other sources claim that the militsia which has connections to al-Quada collects “revolution tax” in order to let the aid pass.

For the same reason, last year the USA imposed sanctions against aid agencies cooperating with al-Shabaab. One step which – according to BBCs correspondent in East Africa – has had just as bad consequences for the current hunger disaster as the emergency aid boycott of the islamists. Last Wednesday, the USA chose to relax/ease the sanctions.

“The crisis is now so serious that we have to run the risk of aid partially ending in the wrong hands”, said a spokesman for the US State Department.

 

3. The hard line

It is understandable that the USA and others are now prioritizing saving human lives. But in the long term it only contributes to keeping Somalia in an inferno of violence and political chaos. The British journalist Matt Potter believes. He has written a book about the intersection between development aid and arms trafficking. Partly al-Shabaab invests their share of the aid in even more AK47s and partly the aircrafts with emergency aid often also transport weapons in one and the same cargo, he claims.

Other observers - such as the development economist Charles Kenny - believe that al-Shabaab is to be treated as mass murders committing genocide. He argues that the famine would never have come into existence without the active efforts of the militsia, and he urges the indictment of its leaders by the International Criminal Court.

Some want to go one step further and demand an armed UN action.

“We would not have 4 million starving Somalis if the UN had deployed a peace-keeping mission”, said the NGO leader John O’Shea a few days ago to the BBC.

To prevent a man-made famine / hunger disaster in the East African country by force of arms was exactly what the USA tried in 1992-93.

Everyone who has seen Ridley Scott’s movie “Black Hawk Down” knows how that ended.

 

 

About 12 million people are threatened by the famine. Initially, it hit the Somalia province Bakool and the lower part of the area around the Shabelle river in the middle of July.

 

This week (end of July/start of August), the famine spread to the refugee settlement in the Afgoye corridor, Mogadishu’s 7 districts and the Balaad and Adale districts in the central Shabelle. All of the southern part of Somalia are expected to be hit by famine during 2011.

 

Several people fleeing the drought say that al-Shabaab warriors threaten to kill everyone leaving their home to travel to the refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia or the government-controlled areas in Somalia. The only way to escape is to sneak away during the night and avoid the main roads in the country. So sources have told the New York Times.

 

It has been difficult for emergency organizations to get emergency aid into the affected areas due to lack of security. In the southern Somalia, al-Shabaab - al-Quada’s allies in the Horn of Africa – are in control, and that organization has denied all emergency organizations access to the famine-stricken areas.

 

Famine in the Horn of Africa follows the worst drought for more than 60 years.

In particular Somalia, Kenya and Ethipia are hard hit by the drought, and there is no prospect that the situation improves before 2012.

 

Drought started in November 2010 and has slowly been deteriorating because the rain – normally falling from October – failed.

 

 

Number of hunger-threatened people in the 4 worst- hit countries:

 

DJIBOUTI: 165,000

SOMALIA: 3.7 million

ETHIOPIA: 4.0 million

KENYA: 3.7 million

[nancyk58]

News in relation to the drought in East Africa on 5.8.11

 

ETHIOPIA CLOSE TO STATE OF FAMINE

 

The Danish organization DanChurchAid and the United Nations fear that - unless aid arrives quickly, then the drought and hunger in ETHIOPIA will develop into REGULAR FAMINE.

 

People in all of the Horn of Africa are starving - in particular in Ethiopia.

 

In large parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti the situation is very critical i.a. due to the massive influx of Somalis who are fleeing the famine in their own country.

 

Danish text-TV on DR1

 

 

DANISH ASSISTANCE TO SECURE AID TO THE STARVING

 

The Danish Emergency Management Agency sends a camp to East Africa. The United Nations has asked for assistance to establish the headquarter for the World Food Programme / WFP in the small Ethiopian town DOLO at the border between Ethiopia and Somalia close to Kenya.

 

We are to get a coordination center established as soon as possible so that emergency aid can reach the needy, says Per Madsen who is Emergency Manager.

 

Danish text-TV on DR1

 

 

USA APPEALS TO AL-SHABAAB TO LET AID AGENCIES HELP THE STARVING IN SOMALIA

 

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, appeals to the islamistic movement - al-Shabaab - in Somalia to let emergency food aid into the famine-stricken areas.

 

She accuses the movement of hindering people with acute need of aid and support in getting the aid they need.

 

- It is even more tragic that al-Shabaab hinders the most threatened people in Somalia in getting aid during the holy month of RAMADAN, said Clinton during a visit to Canada.

 

Swedish Text-TV / SVT Text

 

 

AT LEAST 10 KILLED IN REFUGEE CAMP IN SOMALIA'S CAPITAL MOGADISHU

 

The inhabitants were waiting in a line to receive their share of emergency aid when an attack started involving shooting between security forces and an attacking gang.

 

According to Reuters, soldiers and civilians were looting trucks with emergency aid meant for the victims of the drougth in the Horn of Africa near the Badboado refugee camp which houses 30,000 displaced from drought-stricken areas.

 

Ali Isa, a local NGO employeee cooperating with the World Food Programme (WFP) says that the organization has delivered 300 tons of food to refugees in the Badboado camp in Mogadishu.

 

The camp has been established by Somalia's government which is supported by the western world.

 

Danish text-TV on DR1 plus Swedish text-TV / SVT Text

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14422427

 

5 August 2011 Last updated at 15:40 GMT

 

Somalia: Seven killed in armed food aid looting

 

At least seven people have been killed and several wounded after a gunfight broke out at a camp for displaced people in the Somali capital.

 

Residents of the Badbaado camp, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, were queuing to receive aid when the violence happened.

 

It was not clear who was behind the shooting. Some reports said it was government soldiers or militia.

 

Hundreds of thousands of drought-affected Somalis have arrived in the capital seeking food.

 

About 100,000 refugees have reached the capital in the last two months alone.

 

'Chaos'

 

"Five people died on the spot after militiamen opened fire to loot the food aid," Abdikadir Mohamed, a driver, told Agence France Presse.

 

"There was chaos and everybody was running for cover after the security escorting the food aid convoy exchanged fire with the armed gang. The food was looted," he said.

 

Some reports said that it was government soldiers who opened fire when the distribution of food aid got out of control.

 

"When people started to take the food then the gunfire started and everyone was being shot," camp resident Abidyo Geddi told the Associated Press news agency.

 

The camp, set up by Somalia's Western-backed government, is home to nearly 30,000 people. Many private militias, often politically connected, compete to guard or steal food in Mogadishu.

 

Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali visited the camp after the violence, saying he was "deeply sorry". He said an investigation would be opened and promised he would punish anyone found guilty.

 

An official with an aid organisation working alongside the World Food Programme (WFP) said the UN agency had brought some 300 tonnes of food for the displaced people at the camp, AFP reports.

 

A WFP spokesman confirmed to Reuters that food aid had been stolen from the camp.

 

"By all accounts, it got out of hand. It got a bit chaotic and looting of the food started," David Orr said.

 

Some Mogadishu residents reportedly escaped with food on their shoulders or in wheelbarrows. Government troops and residents generally sell the aid to local markets for cash.

 

Immediate need

 

More than 11 million people have been affected by the worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa in what the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called "the most severe food security emergency in the world today".

 

In Somalia, a famine has been declared across several southern states.

 

The international aid agency Save the Children has condemned a decision by the African Union (AU) to postpone a pledging summit for the Horn of Africa crisis.

 

The AU said it was postponing the summit by two weeks because it needed more time for planning.

 

Getting aid into Somalia has been difficult because the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group - which controls much of the south and central regions and parts of the capital - has banned some aid agencies from their territory.

 

The UN says that some 3.2 million people in Somalia are in need of immediate life-saving assistance - almost half the population.

 

It is the first time in 19 years that the country - which has been without a central government since 1991 - has experienced famine.

[nancyk58]

AL-SHABAAB MILITSIA LEAVING SOMALIA'S CAPITAL MOGADISHU

 

According to Somalia's government, its troops have succeeded in driving the Islamistic movement al-Shabaab out of Somalia's capital Mogadishu so that for the first time in 20 year, the government is controlling all of the capital. Somalia's western-backed government only controls a small part of Somalia.

 

According to al-Shabaab the militsia is leaving Mogadishu "for tactical reasons".

 

News on text-tv in Germany (ZDF Text), Sweden (SVT) and Denmark (DR1 and TV2 News)

[nancyk58]

DANISH RED CROSS's SECRETARY-GENERAL PESSIMISTIC ABOUT SOMALIA

 

Anders Ladekarl who is the Secretary-General of Danish Red Cross: "Red Cross has access to the famine-stricken areas, but not the United Nations. And that can be felt."

 

On Saturday 6 August 2011 the feared islamistic al-Shabaab militsia left the capital Mogadishu. That means that it will be easier to distribute emergency aid to a few square kilometers in Mogadishu. It had been better to get access to the famine-stricken areas in the southern part of Somalia.

 

 

So far, no fund-raising TV show in favour of East Africa has been arranged despite 12 million of starving in the Horn of Africa. Unicef has contacted the Danish TV channel TV2 which replied that TV2 will discuss the matter in the middle of the coming week.

 

Source of both: Text-TV on Danish DR1

[nancyk58]

I have just seen a report from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

 

The reporter visited a family who buried a 4-year-old daughter. Now 2 weeks later the reporter visited them again. The family was worse off. The 2 surviving children were sick - one of them coughing. The father was to weak to do anything to help his children.

 

The father said that they had received some maize / corn - that was all - and the children could not survive on that being very sick.

 

Outside there was a dust storm. 2 times a day there was clouds of dust so that you cannot see anything. The viewers watched one dust storm.

 

The reporter said that the refugees were coming here to seek help and found that here it was just as bad if not worse than at home!!

 

I felt like it was hell on earth.

[nancyk58]

From Swedish text-TV / SVT Text:

 

SOMALIA OFFERING REBELS AMNESTY

 

The transitional government in Somalia is offering the rebels in the Islamistic movement al-Shabaab amnesty provided they hand over their arms / weapons.

 

The offer is given in the hope of suppressing / curbing the long conflict.

 

It is also an attempt to weaken the rebel movement which - since 2007 - has been fighting to overthrow the weak, western-backed transitional government.

 

The movement controls more parts of Somalia than the transitional regime!!

[nancyk58]

German Text-TV / ZDFText:

 

FAMINE IN KENYA: MANY FAMILIES SELLING THEIR DAUGHTERS !!

 

The consequences of the drought in North Kenya have forced more and more families to acts of despair / desperation: Mothers are selling their daughters to men so that they have money to feed the remaining family! The relief organization World Vision reported that 400 girls had disappeared.

 

In most cases the girls might have been forced to marry, says a World Vision employee.

 

In Kenya it is common to force girls to marry. But it is forbidden for girls under the age of 18 to marry / be married off. But nevertheless, girls are often forced to marry at the age of 9 !!!!

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14460625

 

9 August 2011 Last updated at 15:13 GMT

 

Somalia 'needs more AU troops' after al-Shabab pullout

 

The African Union force commander in Somalia has appealed for thousands of extra troops to secure the capital, after militant Islamists left the city.

 

Maj Gen Fred Mugisha said the militant al-Shabab group still threatened stability in Mogadishu and troops were needed to protect food aid.

 

The government has said it is offering amnesty to the group's fighters.

 

Somalia has been hit by 20 years of conflict, while a famine has gripped parts of the country since June.

 

Al-Shabab controls most of south and central Somalia, including Lower Shabelle and Bakool, the regions worst affected by the famine.

 

On Saturday, it surprised many analysts by announcing a withdrawal of its forces from Mogadishu.

 

Gen Mughisha said al-Shabab had not withdrawn completely and pockets of insurgents remained in the city.

 

"About 90%-95% of Mogadishu has been liberated, creating areas for starving people to access food," he said.

 

"But the city is not as calm as we would like it to be."

 

The BBC's Mohamed Mwalimu in Mogadishu says al-Shabab fighters launched an overnight attack in the city on two fronts.

 

However, they retreated after AU and government forces returned fire, our reporter says.

 

'Air and sea power'

 

Gen Mugisha said the AU needed an immediate deployment of 3,000 troops to bolster its 9,000-strong force and help the UN-backed government.

 

It also needed air and sea power to secure Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia before "millions perish from the famine", he said.

 

Last year, the UN Security Council approved a 12,000-strong AU force for Somalia, although the AU said it needed 20,000 troops.

 

Several African countries, including Nigeria and Malawi, have failed to fulfil promises to send troops because they fear being dragged into the long-running conflict.

 

All the current troops are from Uganda and Burundi.

 

Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, was formed in 2007 to overthrow the weak interim government and establish Islamist rule in Somalia.

 

The UN special envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, said he supported the deployment of more AU troops.

 

"Both [the AU force] and government forces need to be resupplied and resupplied quickly in terms of manpower and equipment to re-establish authority in those areas [surrendered by al-Shabab]," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

 

Market reopening

 

Mr Mahiga said al-Shabab was likely to wage guerrilla warfare in Mogadishu, including carrying out more suicide bombings.

 

"It could be that a totally different military situation is being created," he said.

 

Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is on a regional tour to bolster support for his government.

 

He is due to meet Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete on Tuesday, following a meeting on Monday with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni.

 

The government held a ceremony on Tuesday in Mogadishu's commercial hub, the Bakara market, to announce that police would take over security at the market from the army.

 

The government's decision shows it is confident that al-Shabab is on the retreat in Mogadishu, our reporter says.

 

The market had been heavily contested for months and many shops - which closed because of the fighting - are reopening, he says.

 

The government has promised militants that they will not be punished if they surrender.

 

"Put down your weapons and your guns, and come and join the people and your society," government spokesman Abdirahman Osman was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

 

The UN refugee agency on Monday flew aid to drought victims in Mogadishu, its first airlift to the city for five years.

 

Some 100,000 people have arrived in the city in the last two months in search of food.

 

Many aid agencies were banned by al-Shabab in 2009 and they fear their workers could be targeted if they return to the country.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14373264

 

9 August 2011 Last updated at 07:19 GMT

 

Could Somali famine deal a fatal blow to al-Shabab?

 

By Farouk Chothia

 

BBC African Service

 

 

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab is in crisis, as it battles to cope with the famine that is far worse in areas under its control than other parts of the country, leading to reports of splits in the leadership of the al-Qaeda-linked group.

 

The famine has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the Lower Shabelle and Bakool regions in search of food.

 

Many are escaping to the capital, Mogadishu, where over the weekend the group made what it called a tactical withdrawal of its forces from the northern suburbs that were under its control.

 

Others are walking for days to reach camps in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, arch-foes of al-Shabab.

 

"It is not a good picture for al-Shabab," says US-based Somali journalist Abdirahman Aynte, who is writing a book on the movement.

 

"Nearly 500,000 people have left. Al-Shabab cannot do anything about it. They have become bystanders."

 

He says al-Shabab - formed as the youth wing of the now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts in 2006 - had genuine support when it took power in most of south and central Somalia, as people longed for an end to the lawlessness that has gripped the country since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991.

 

"Even though al-Shabab had draconian laws, they were somewhat popular because of the stability they provided," says Mr Aynte.

 

"Government areas were not safe - even soldiers were involved in robbing and looting. In al-Shabab areas, you will have your hands amputated if you steal. It was a deterrent. "

 

Kenya-based Somali journalist Fatuma Noor, who travelled through al-Shabab territory last year, says the famine has damaged the group's credibility.

 

"Al-Shabab are losing support. People are saying that the drought in the region was caused by a lack of rains, but the famine was man-made. They are asking - why has it been only in al-Shabab's areas?" Ms Noor says.

 

Taxing charities

 

She says many Somalis are blaming al-Shabab for the severity of the crisis because of the ban it imposed on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and some other Western agencies in 2009.

 

"There have been warnings of a famine since last year, but there was no proper planning to prevent it," says Ms Noor.

 

But a London-based al-Shabab observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, argues that the UN blundered by declaring a famine.

 

He points out that al-Shabab lifted the ban on charities last month; only to reimpose it after the UN's declaration.

 

"Al-Shabab felt the UN was undermining it; that it wanted to move in and take over. The UN should have concentrated on building trust with al-Shabab and getting aid in to save lives. It didn't matter whether you called it a drought or a famine," he says.

 

But Mr Aynte accuses al-Shabab of refusing to take responsibility for the crisis.

 

"It says there is a drought, caused by Allah and people should pray for rain."

 

He says it is difficult for charities to work with al-Shabab because it demands money from them.

 

"Al-Shabab are suspicious of aid agencies but 10%-15% of their revenue comes from them.

 

"Al-Shabab has a humanitarian co-ordination office, which charges a registration fee of $4,000 to $10,000 (£2,400 to £6,000). They also charge a project fee - 20% of the overall cost of digging a borehole or setting up a feeding centre," Mr Aynte says.

 

The al-Shabab observer who preferred anonymity says the group's leadership is heavily divided over the food crisis - something the UN could have exploited to gain access to starving people.

 

Al-Shabab's southern leaders - especially Muktar Ali Robow, who comes from famine-hit Lower Shabelle, and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is seen as the elder statesman of Somali Islamists - favour accepting Western aid.

 

However, they were overruled by the overall leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, who has led al-Shabab into forging close ties with al-Qaeda.

 

"Robow's people are directly affected by this famine. So he wants aid agencies to come in. But Godane is suspicious of the UN and doesn't want them in Somalia. So he blocked it," the observer says.

 

"Robow is now accusing Godane [who hails from the breakaway region of Somaliland] of letting people starve."

 

Wracked by rivalry

 

The Somali observer says the famine has worsened divisions between Mr Godane and his rivals.

 

In June, a top Godane ally, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was al-Qaeda's military operations chief in East Africa, was killed at a government roadblock in Mogadishu.

 

"Fazul was from Comoros and did not know Mogadishu well. Godane is suspicious that his enemies in al-Shabab duped him into going to the checkpoint. At first, government forces did not even know it was Fazul - until they did DNA tests with American help," the observer says.

 

"It was a big blow to Godane and he became more paranoid. He feels he needs to keep tight control - not open up Somalia to the West."

 

The crisis over the famine comes at a time when al-Shabab - which has between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters - has lost Mogadishu following an offensive by government forces, who are backed by about 9,000 African Union troops.

 

"Al-Shabab is under pressure. Its moral police [who do not usually fight] are now also on the front line," Mr Aynte says.

 

The al-Shabab observer said the group announced its retreat from Mogadishu after launching an attack on seven fronts.

 

"It was a show of unity and force to counter reports that they are weak and divided," the observer says.

 

He says al-Shabab was unlikely to withdraw completely from Mogadishu. Instead, it would switch to the guerrilla tactics it employed against Ethiopian forces when they invaded the country in 2006 in a failed attempt to defeat the group.

 

"Al-Shabab never controlled territory at the time. They waged guerrilla war and drove the Ethiopians out."

 

But the loss of Mogadishu will be a huge financial blow to al-Shabab, as it can no longer extort money out of the businesses in the main Bakara market - the city's commercial hub.

 

"Al-Shabab was collecting taxes from about 4,000 shops - from $50 a month from the small trader to thousands of dollars from telecoms companies," Mr Aynte says.

 

He argues that the famine - along with the military setbacks and financial losses - means that al-Shabab is at its weakest since its formation.

 

"But it is too early to write it off. Organisationally, it is still intact," Mr Aynte says.

 

However, UN al-Shabab investigator Matt Bryden believes the group is still financially strong.

 

"Al-Shabab has evolved from a small, clandestine network into an authority that generates tens of millions of dollars a year," he says.

 

He also argues that deforestation in al-Shabab-held areas has probably contributed to the famine, as some environmental experts say that cutting down trees can reduce rainfall.

 

The trees are used to make charcoal, which is exported to Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, Mr Bryden says.

 

He points out that al-Shabab controls several port cities - including Kismayo, Somalia's second city.

 

"Charcoal through Kismayo alone is estimated to be worth $15m a year in direct revenue for al-Shabab," Mr Bryden says.

 

"I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that the scale at which it is taking place is almost industrial."

 

Mr Bryden says al-Shabab is no longer dependent on foreign funding and has enough money to finance its war chest.

 

But for many observers the key question is: Will al-Shabab rally to the aid of starving Somalis - or will they continue to flee Islamist areas in search of food?

 

"I do not think al-Shabab really cares about the famine," says Mr Aynte. "It is more interested in fighting the government and the AU force."

[nancyk58]

The 3 free papers Urban / MetroXpress & 24 Timer - all citing RITZAU / REUTERS:

 

UNs food organization FAO has still not reached the 161 million dollar target.

 

FAO had appealed to the world community for 161 million dollar for the starving population / refugees in the Horn of Africa. Despite donations and donation pledges there is a gap of 103 million dollars according to FAO.

 

The money is to go to relief for 3.6 million starving people in Somalia and a total of 12 million starving in the horn of Africa.

 

At the same time the money is to go to reconstruction of agriculture destroyed by the drought in the region.

 

FAO has invited the ministers of agricultured from UNs 191 member states to a meeting on 18 August 2011 in order to discuss how to tackle the growing crisis.

[nancyk58]

Article in free paper 24timer on 8.8.11

 

UN: 640,000 CHILDREN ARE UNDERNOURISHED

 

More than 29,000 children < 5 years have died in South Somalia during the last 90 days as a consequence of the famine in the Horn of Africa according to the UN.

 

The organization reports that 640,000 Somali children are undernourished and that it expects the famine to spread to all of South Somalia during the next month and will make additional thousands of people flee their home area.

 

The Islamic Al-Shabaab militsia that was based in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu where it looted / robbed the starving left almost all its positions last Saturday, i.e. on 6 August 2011.

 

The militisia's looting / robbing of the hunger refugees has made relief workers hand out prepared food rations to the refugees because prepared food cannot be kept for long and is thus less attractive to rob / loot.

[nancyk58]

Article from Danish free paper Urban dated 5.8 - [email protected] - translated by nancy Boysen

 

500,000 CHILDREN ARE DYING

 

UP TO 10 MILLION PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED BY MASSIVE DROUGHT IN EAST AFRICA, AND SHORTAGE OF EMERGENCY AID MEANS THAT HUNDRED THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN ARE IN ACUTE MORTAL DANGER

 

The life of 3-year-old Aden is threatened. For days he has been fleeing in very hot weather. Without water and food. His mother died of starvation during the escape from the southern Somalia.

 

Now he is staying in the refugee camp Dadaab together with his father Abdille, his two sibblings and his paternal grand-mother.

 

The camp is packed with malnourished children. Many are so weak that they have to be fed via a probe. Several of them are not going to survive, but their chance of survival is better than is the chance of survival for the children still being in drought-stricken Somalia.

 

The United Nations estimates that up to 500,000 children are malnourished as a consequence of the drought.

 

"There is a great risk of 500,000 children dying within few weeks", says Steen Andersen who is director for Unicef. *)

 

Apart from hunger and shortage of fluid (water), the children are affected by a number of sequelas. Skin problems, eye problems and nails falling off - sufferings caused by malnourishment.

 

The aid agencies also fear that a measle epidemic will spread quickly in the drought-stricken areas.

 

"In these areas, measles is just as dangerous as hunger itself", says Steen Andersen.

 

EMERGENCY AID MUST ARRIVE IN TIME

 

If the children are to survive, it is very decisive that food, medicine and vaccines reach the destination in time.

 

Red Cross has handed out food to 162,000 people in Somalia, but now the stocks in Kenya and Somalia are empty.

 

"Unless we receive more money, children will die. I do not know how many, but there is no doubt that the lives of thousands of children are threatened", says Stefan Islandi who is deputy head for Danish Red Cross's department in Somalia.

 

A total of 10 million people are presumably affected by the East-African drought. In Somalia alone, about 3.5 million people are presumably affected.

 

Food for around 200,000 people are underway by ship and trucks, but it might take some weeks before the food reaches its destination.

 

It is very difficult to get the supplies of emergency aid to the needy, because some parts of Somalia are controlled by the al-Quada-linked militsia, Al-Shabaab.

 

AIRLINES ASSISTING

 

Unicef estimates that there is a total need of 300 million dollars in emergency aid for the drought-stricken areas in the Horn of Africa.

 

So far Unicef has collected about 100 million dollars, and Unicef's warehouses (stocks) are full of food and probe food waiting to be flown into Africa.

 

UNICEF has asked a number of airlines to make aircrafts available. Lufthansa, British Airways, UPS and Virgin have responded positively according to Unicef.

 

Also ordinary Danes have supported the droughtstricken Africans. Until 5 August the Danes have donated 5 million Danish kroner to Unicef and 6 million Danish kroner to Red Cross.

 

The donations correspond to the Pakistan collections in 2010, but do not reach the HAITI collection to which the Danes donated 27-28 million Danish kroner to Unicef alone.

 

--------------------

 

*) Steen Andersen is the Secretary-General of UNICEF, Denmark

[chuck kottke]

Your signature and fast action needed to get aid to the Horn of Africa: [/url]Crisis In The Horn Of Africa | ONE

K'naan and Bono team up to speak about the urgent need for help.

[nancyk58]

UN REPORTS CHOLERA EPIDEMICS IN DROUGHT-PLAGUED SOMALIA (German text-TV / ZDF Text)

 

In the capital Mogadishu alone, almost 4,300 patients have been treated since the beginning of 2011. So far 181 have died.

 

In the past 2 months 100,000 Somalis have arrived in Mogadishu in the hope of finding water, food and shelter here. Add to this the more than 370,000 refugees already stranded here.

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14517866

 

13 August 2011 Last updated at 16:54 GMT

 

Somalia famine: PM Ali sets up aid protection force

 

By Mary Harper

 

BBC News

 

Somalia's prime minister has announced the creation of a special force to protect convoys delivering aid to people affected by drought and famine.

 

Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said the force would comprise 300 trained men, helped by AU peacekeepers who are currently providing security in Mogadishu.

 

He was speaking after talks with UN emergency relief coordinator, Valerie Amos, in the Somali capital.

 

Some 12 million people are affected by drought in the region, the UN says.

 

Mr Ali said the force would have two main jobs: "Number one is to secure the convoys and to protect food aid, and also to protect the camps when food is distributed," he said.

 

"Second is to stabilise the city and to fight banditry and looting and any sort of untidiness."

 

Mr Mohamed Ali's use of the word "untidiness" was something of an understatement: Mogadishu was until a few days ago divided in two, with the Islamist insurgent group, al-Shabab, occupying several districts.

 

It has now withdrawn from most parts of the city, but has vowed to keep on fighting the transitional government.

 

'Scaling up operations'

 

Security has improved in Mogadishu, although pockets of resistance remain.

 

After their meeting, Baroness Amos said the improvement in security meant the UN could intensify its relief efforts in the region.

 

"We are scaling up our operations in Mogadishu," she said. "UNHCR [uN High Commission for Refugees], for example, has had three flights come in this week.

 

"Unicef [uN Children's Fund]has had flights come in. The World Food Programme has had flights come in."

 

But the aid operation in Somalia still faces huge challenges. Most of the famine-affected areas are still controlled by al-Shabab, which has often been reluctant to cooperate with international agencies.

 

The UN said earlier this week that aid was only reaching 20% of the Somalis who need it.