Many stories coming up from the fleeing people from the drought and famine in the Southern Somalia, Thousands of Somalis reaching every day to Kenya and Ethiopia borders to find out humanitarian assistance, Aid workers discovered many horrific stories from the refugee camps in Kenya like Dhadab, Dhagahle and Bulo-adaw camps in Ethiopia. Aid workers found a small sun shelter hut with 4 children sitting around the dead body of their mother believing that she is alive. The family reached the camp before days but not get assistance, no one was aware the situation of the family. The Former refugee people in the camp were trying to help although they have nothing to provide newly coming refugees. The other sad story was that a mother fled from Somalia was on way to Kenya, one of her youngest child carrying with her back was become very sick and started to cry very loudly because of the hunger, later on the child stopped crying and movement, the mother tried to know how is her child, she saw the children stopped movement, she believed her child is passed away, and put the child near the road by covering some clothes and walked away to safe other remaining children. The Fleeing people found the child covered with clothes and saw the child still alive, provided water and food, the situation of the child get better and taken to the refugee camps in Kenya to trace, later the Aid workers and the refugee people traced and found later the mother of the child and given to her.
Yussuf
Forgotten Diaries Blogger
Monday 25 July 2011
Food aid for Somalia could be flown into country within a week
Food aid for starving Somalis living in Islamist-held territory could be flown into the country within “a week to 10 days”, the World Food Programme said.
The international effort to bring humanitarian relief to 3.7 million Somalis who need urgent help to beat drought and famine is being hampered by al-Shabaab's refusal to let most agencies into their territory.
The al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents backtracked on an earlier promise to allow access.
But the United Nations said it was planning to fly food into areas held by the Islamists despite the ban.
“There are 2.2 million people yet to be reached,” said Josette Sheeran, the head of the agency.
“It is the most dangerous environment we are working in in the world. But people are dying. It’s not about politics, it’s about saving lives now.”
WFP was one of the many organisations that al-Shabaab effectively forced out last year after imposing strict conditions of operation including no foreign female staff.
The group also taxed aid convoys.
Regis Chapman, the head of WFP's operations in Somalia, said that food deliveries would soon start into the limited parts of Mogadishu controlled by the internationally-backed government.
He added that “within a week to 10 days” WFP would be sending food into areas controlled by the Islamists.
The Red Cross on Sunday said that it had delivered 400 tonnes of food to 24,000 people in Gedo province, the first time it had taken supplies into al-Shabaab's territory since 2009. More than 2 million Somalis in the worst affected areas, including two famine zones, live in al-Shabaab territory and cannot be reached by international aid.
They are among more than 11.5 million people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia who need urgent help to keep them from starving after at least two years with no rain.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation will meet with the heads of most major charities in Rome to draw “the political attention of leaders of the world” to the crisis, Cristina Amaral, the FAO's head of emergency operations said
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/8658036/Food-aid-for-Somalia-could-be-flown-into-country-within-a-week.html
The international effort to bring humanitarian relief to 3.7 million Somalis who need urgent help to beat drought and famine is being hampered by al-Shabaab's refusal to let most agencies into their territory.
The al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents backtracked on an earlier promise to allow access.
But the United Nations said it was planning to fly food into areas held by the Islamists despite the ban.
“There are 2.2 million people yet to be reached,” said Josette Sheeran, the head of the agency.
“It is the most dangerous environment we are working in in the world. But people are dying. It’s not about politics, it’s about saving lives now.”
WFP was one of the many organisations that al-Shabaab effectively forced out last year after imposing strict conditions of operation including no foreign female staff.
The group also taxed aid convoys.
Regis Chapman, the head of WFP's operations in Somalia, said that food deliveries would soon start into the limited parts of Mogadishu controlled by the internationally-backed government.
He added that “within a week to 10 days” WFP would be sending food into areas controlled by the Islamists.
The Red Cross on Sunday said that it had delivered 400 tonnes of food to 24,000 people in Gedo province, the first time it had taken supplies into al-Shabaab's territory since 2009. More than 2 million Somalis in the worst affected areas, including two famine zones, live in al-Shabaab territory and cannot be reached by international aid.
They are among more than 11.5 million people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia who need urgent help to keep them from starving after at least two years with no rain.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation will meet with the heads of most major charities in Rome to draw “the political attention of leaders of the world” to the crisis, Cristina Amaral, the FAO's head of emergency operations said
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/8658036/Food-aid-for-Somalia-could-be-flown-into-country-within-a-week.html
G20 and World Food Program to hold emergency meeting on Somali famine
Amid a deteriorating humanitarian tragedy in drought and famine-hit Somalia, the UN is preparing to hold a special session to discuss the slow, complicated and dangerous nature of getting food aid deeper into the fractured country.
The UN’s food agency, the World Food Program, will hold emergency talks in Rome, Italy, in an effort to raise further funds and discuss the situation on the ground, which is immensely complicated due to the lack of a functioning government and the dominance of the al-Shabab militant group.
Somalia has been fractured by civil war for decades. It is only in recent years that an African Union military effort was able to win back the capital, Mogadishu, for the impotent interim government, which yields no authority beyond the city.
It is the innocent civilians who have suffered through the years of violence, but now a devastating drought has increased the suffering tenfold, causing death throughout the country and shocking famine in two vast regions of Somalia.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the international community for help. The UN needs around US $1.6 billion to see around 10 million people through the drought, expected to last until September.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross has been delivering food to around 25,000 people within one of the famine zones. A further 2.2 million in the country are in need of help.
The United Kingdom and France have led the international response to the crisis, with France calling the emergency meeting Monday in Rome. Delegates from the G20 countries will meet at the World Food Program headquarters to discuss the crisis.
The famine has been caused by the lack of a central government in Somalia, leaving the population with no protection or national leadership.
The country is under-developed due to a lack of investment, which has left farmers with no irrigation and other agriculture investment schemes that would have helped them through the worst of the drought.
http://story.albuquerqueexpress.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/c08dd24cec417021/id/815751/cs/1/ht/G20%20and%20World%20Food%20Program%20to%20hold%20emergency%20meeting%20on%20Somali%20famine/
The UN’s food agency, the World Food Program, will hold emergency talks in Rome, Italy, in an effort to raise further funds and discuss the situation on the ground, which is immensely complicated due to the lack of a functioning government and the dominance of the al-Shabab militant group.
Somalia has been fractured by civil war for decades. It is only in recent years that an African Union military effort was able to win back the capital, Mogadishu, for the impotent interim government, which yields no authority beyond the city.
It is the innocent civilians who have suffered through the years of violence, but now a devastating drought has increased the suffering tenfold, causing death throughout the country and shocking famine in two vast regions of Somalia.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the international community for help. The UN needs around US $1.6 billion to see around 10 million people through the drought, expected to last until September.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross has been delivering food to around 25,000 people within one of the famine zones. A further 2.2 million in the country are in need of help.
The United Kingdom and France have led the international response to the crisis, with France calling the emergency meeting Monday in Rome. Delegates from the G20 countries will meet at the World Food Program headquarters to discuss the crisis.
The famine has been caused by the lack of a central government in Somalia, leaving the population with no protection or national leadership.
The country is under-developed due to a lack of investment, which has left farmers with no irrigation and other agriculture investment schemes that would have helped them through the worst of the drought.
http://story.albuquerqueexpress.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/c08dd24cec417021/id/815751/cs/1/ht/G20%20and%20World%20Food%20Program%20to%20hold%20emergency%20meeting%20on%20Somali%20famine/
Sunday 24 July 2011
Famine in Somalia is 'immoral': UN aid coordinator
by Dario Thuburn
ROME, July 24, 2011 (AFP) - With the world scrambling to rescue 12 million people on the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa, UN emergency official Cristina Amaral said the fact that children are dying of hunger is "immoral". As head of emergency operations in Africa for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Amaral has been warning about the crisis facing the drought-stricken region since November, after the rainy season failed.
Now she says it's not enough for donor countries to stump up some cash for immediate food aid -- there needs to be long-term investment to help farmers resist droughts and international mediation to bring peace to war-torn Somalia.
"When we have a declaration of famine in the 21st century, we should consider this immoral," Amaral told AFP in an interview as she prepared for emergency talks at FAO in Rome on Monday aimed at coordinating the aid effort.
Ministers, aid chiefs and charities are meeting to discuss ways of stepping up food supplies and delivering them to the epicentre of the famine in southern Somalia, much of which is under the control of Islamist militants.
"Without access to south Somalia, we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg -- those refugees arriving in Kenya and Ethiopia," Amaral said. "There are many more -- we estimate 3.7 million -- that need emergency assistance," she added.
The Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab group has banned humanitarian aid agencies like the World Food Programme from working in the region, although FAO has been able to operate several small programmes to help farmers through local partners.
"We hope that the political negotiation will evolve and that the humanitarian situation prevailing will make the clans in Somalia negotiate in a way that will free the access to people in need," she said.
Amaral said the international community is now seeing the results of years of under-investment in solutions to the chronic drought problems of the region.
Projects to improve the management of pastures by herders, to improve animal health and to introduce more resilient crops would go a long way, she said.
"We know what to do but the funding only works when you have the media attention and that's the problem," she said. "War has become a normality there. You only hear about Somalia when there are pirates," she added.
"We need to look at this protracted crisis with a different kind of solution. Somalia has had a lot of humanitarian aid but not much long-term investment," she said, blaming misperceptions that any efforts are hopeless.
"People don't get out of the drought cycle in one or two years. Usually it takes five or six years. In this case we had a drought in 2008 and we're having another one in 2011. People have not yet recovered from the first one."
She said FAO needs $135 million dollars (94 million euros) for its projects.
Amaral's work has taken her to some of the most deprived countries and worst humanitarian crises in the world, with some of her most recent efforts concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Zimbabwe.
She said that, bad as the current crisis is, it still does not compare with previous humanitarian disasters in Ethiopia and Somalia in the 1980s and 1990s.
"Overall we have more capacity to respond today," she said.
But she added: "We're afraid that things will get worse in the coming months if nothing is done now." UN agencies say tens of thousands of people have died due to the drought and warn half a million children are at risk of dying.
One aggravating factor in the drought crisis has been the sharp spike in food and fuel prices in countries like Djibouti and Somalia that are net importers of food -- a point expected to be raised at the FAO talks on Monday.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/61084
ROME, July 24, 2011 (AFP) - With the world scrambling to rescue 12 million people on the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa, UN emergency official Cristina Amaral said the fact that children are dying of hunger is "immoral". As head of emergency operations in Africa for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Amaral has been warning about the crisis facing the drought-stricken region since November, after the rainy season failed.
Now she says it's not enough for donor countries to stump up some cash for immediate food aid -- there needs to be long-term investment to help farmers resist droughts and international mediation to bring peace to war-torn Somalia.
"When we have a declaration of famine in the 21st century, we should consider this immoral," Amaral told AFP in an interview as she prepared for emergency talks at FAO in Rome on Monday aimed at coordinating the aid effort.
Ministers, aid chiefs and charities are meeting to discuss ways of stepping up food supplies and delivering them to the epicentre of the famine in southern Somalia, much of which is under the control of Islamist militants.
"Without access to south Somalia, we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg -- those refugees arriving in Kenya and Ethiopia," Amaral said. "There are many more -- we estimate 3.7 million -- that need emergency assistance," she added.
The Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab group has banned humanitarian aid agencies like the World Food Programme from working in the region, although FAO has been able to operate several small programmes to help farmers through local partners.
"We hope that the political negotiation will evolve and that the humanitarian situation prevailing will make the clans in Somalia negotiate in a way that will free the access to people in need," she said.
Amaral said the international community is now seeing the results of years of under-investment in solutions to the chronic drought problems of the region.
Projects to improve the management of pastures by herders, to improve animal health and to introduce more resilient crops would go a long way, she said.
"We know what to do but the funding only works when you have the media attention and that's the problem," she said. "War has become a normality there. You only hear about Somalia when there are pirates," she added.
"We need to look at this protracted crisis with a different kind of solution. Somalia has had a lot of humanitarian aid but not much long-term investment," she said, blaming misperceptions that any efforts are hopeless.
"People don't get out of the drought cycle in one or two years. Usually it takes five or six years. In this case we had a drought in 2008 and we're having another one in 2011. People have not yet recovered from the first one."
She said FAO needs $135 million dollars (94 million euros) for its projects.
Amaral's work has taken her to some of the most deprived countries and worst humanitarian crises in the world, with some of her most recent efforts concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Zimbabwe.
She said that, bad as the current crisis is, it still does not compare with previous humanitarian disasters in Ethiopia and Somalia in the 1980s and 1990s.
"Overall we have more capacity to respond today," she said.
But she added: "We're afraid that things will get worse in the coming months if nothing is done now." UN agencies say tens of thousands of people have died due to the drought and warn half a million children are at risk of dying.
One aggravating factor in the drought crisis has been the sharp spike in food and fuel prices in countries like Djibouti and Somalia that are net importers of food -- a point expected to be raised at the FAO talks on Monday.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/61084
Wednesday 20 July 2011
UN to formally declare famine in drought-hit southern Somalia
The United Nations is set to declare a famine in drought-ravaged southern Somalia, the first time such a declaration has been made since the early 1990s.
More than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are in need of emergency assistance due to drought and ongoing conflict, according to the UN
The famine announcement is expected Wednesday in Nairobi, and will be the first time the UN has declared a famine since 1992. It signals to donors the extreme need for more aid, and warns insurgents in Somalia that the population's suffering is taken seriously by the world community.
The formal conditions for famine are two adult deaths or four children deaths from hunger per 10,000 people a day, more than 30 per cent of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition and the population must have access to less than 2,100 kilocalories of food per day.
The drought, the worst seen in the region in 60 years, decimated the region's livestock and fields, both the only source of income and food for many people.
Thousands of people are arriving daily at large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, raising fears of disease due to poor sanitation and overcrowding.
The population in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in Kenya, has swelled to more than 380,000 people.
On Tuesday, the UN said that it needs further safety guarantees from armed groups in Somalia if it is to help those in need.
Somalia's most dangerous militant group, al-Shabab, has promised aid groups limited access to areas under their control. The group banned foreign agencies two years ago.
Oxfam said on Tuesday night that only around $200 million in new money has been provided for relief efforts so far. An estimated $1 billion is needed to stave off a major humanitarian catastrophe.
Meanwhile, top Canadian charities have banded together to address the Somalia crisis.
A network of five Canadian NGOs, including CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Quebec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada, are uniting to tackle the relief efforts.
The Humanitarian Coalition aims to reduce unnecessary competition, better educate the public on humanitarian needs, increase the impact of Canadian humanitarian responses and reduce administrative costs.
Canada has contributed more than $11 million to the crisis.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110719/un-security-access-somalia-relief-110719/
More than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are in need of emergency assistance due to drought and ongoing conflict, according to the UN
The famine announcement is expected Wednesday in Nairobi, and will be the first time the UN has declared a famine since 1992. It signals to donors the extreme need for more aid, and warns insurgents in Somalia that the population's suffering is taken seriously by the world community.
The formal conditions for famine are two adult deaths or four children deaths from hunger per 10,000 people a day, more than 30 per cent of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition and the population must have access to less than 2,100 kilocalories of food per day.
The drought, the worst seen in the region in 60 years, decimated the region's livestock and fields, both the only source of income and food for many people.
Thousands of people are arriving daily at large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, raising fears of disease due to poor sanitation and overcrowding.
The population in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in Kenya, has swelled to more than 380,000 people.
On Tuesday, the UN said that it needs further safety guarantees from armed groups in Somalia if it is to help those in need.
Somalia's most dangerous militant group, al-Shabab, has promised aid groups limited access to areas under their control. The group banned foreign agencies two years ago.
Oxfam said on Tuesday night that only around $200 million in new money has been provided for relief efforts so far. An estimated $1 billion is needed to stave off a major humanitarian catastrophe.
Meanwhile, top Canadian charities have banded together to address the Somalia crisis.
A network of five Canadian NGOs, including CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Quebec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada, are uniting to tackle the relief efforts.
The Humanitarian Coalition aims to reduce unnecessary competition, better educate the public on humanitarian needs, increase the impact of Canadian humanitarian responses and reduce administrative costs.
Canada has contributed more than $11 million to the crisis.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110719/un-security-access-somalia-relief-110719/
Sunday 17 July 2011
What The International Media Reported From the Hunger and Famine in Somalia
The International media gave attention to the humaniterian crisis in Somalia which is the largest humaniterian crisis in the World at this time: visit the links below of the some International media and what the said about the hunger and famine in the Southern Somalia.
Al Jazeera:
UN makes first supply drops in Somalia
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117178716304210.html
Centre Daily Times:
Pope urges help for Somalia
http://www.centredaily.com/2011/07/17/2839701/pope-urges-help-for-somalis-fleeing.html
ABC News:
Somalia Drought 'One of the Largest Humanitarian Crises in Decades'
http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-drought-largest-humanitarian-crises-decades/story?id=14088488
Yass Tribune:
Suffer the children as hunger stalks the land
http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-famine/story?id=14088327
CNN International
U.N. flies aid to Somalia after Islamist rebels lift ban
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/17/somalia.un.aid/
Wikinews
Drought stricken Somalia nears famine
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Drought_stricken_Somalia_nears_famine
Straits Times
Survival struggle against Somalia's drought
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_690971.html
Ottawa Citizen
The forgotten people of Africa's deadly famine
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/forgotten+people+Africa+deadly+famine/5105962/story.html
Yussuf
Forgotten Diaries Blogger
Al Jazeera:
UN makes first supply drops in Somalia
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117178716304210.html
Centre Daily Times:
Pope urges help for Somalia
http://www.centredaily.com/2011/07/17/2839701/pope-urges-help-for-somalis-fleeing.html
ABC News:
Somalia Drought 'One of the Largest Humanitarian Crises in Decades'
http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-drought-largest-humanitarian-crises-decades/story?id=14088488
Yass Tribune:
Suffer the children as hunger stalks the land
http://abcnews.go.com/International/somalia-famine/story?id=14088327
CNN International
U.N. flies aid to Somalia after Islamist rebels lift ban
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/07/17/somalia.un.aid/
Wikinews
Drought stricken Somalia nears famine
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Drought_stricken_Somalia_nears_famine
Straits Times
Survival struggle against Somalia's drought
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_690971.html
Ottawa Citizen
The forgotten people of Africa's deadly famine
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/forgotten+people+Africa+deadly+famine/5105962/story.html
Yussuf
Forgotten Diaries Blogger
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Drought and Famine Hit Southern Somalia
People started before months ago to walk hundreds of KM to Ethiopia and Kenya Borders to search food and other humaniterian assistance, many children were left behind on the way after stoped to walk, parents left them to safe other children to reach where they can get food and assistance, this was reported from the parents newly came in the Refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. the situation in the areas where this people fled mostly unknown what is going on there (southern regions of Somalia. The people reaching in the bonders of Kenya and Ethiopia are expected to be the people those who able to walk or have some food to eat while they are on the way to Kenya or Ethiopia or have some money to rent overloaded trucks.
As reported in this areas, the situation is very horrible, Media can not easly go to report what is going in the area where Al-shabaab controls. curently, most of the reports are comming from the refugee camps lined with the bondaries of Ethiopia and Kenya with Somalia as well as Mugdisho.
Yusuf
Forgotten Diaries Blogger
As reported in this areas, the situation is very horrible, Media can not easly go to report what is going in the area where Al-shabaab controls. curently, most of the reports are comming from the refugee camps lined with the bondaries of Ethiopia and Kenya with Somalia as well as Mugdisho.
Yusuf
Forgotten Diaries Blogger
Ban 'extremely worried' by Horn of Africa drought
Ban 'extremely worried' by Horn of Africa drought
(AFP) – 19 hours ago
UNITED NATIONS — UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he was "extremely worried" about the extreme drought threatening famine and death on a massive scale in the Horn of Africa.
"More than 11 millions people need urgent assistance to stay alive, as they face their worst drought in decades," the UN secretary general said. "This morning I called an urgent emergency meeting with the heads of UN agencies."
Ban said immediate action must be taken if millions in the Horn of Africa are to avoid starvation.
"We must do everything we can to prevent this crisis deepening. The human cost of this crisis is catastrophic. We cannot afford to wait."
Thousands of Somalis have fled their country in recent months to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia to seek help from the devastation.
In Ethiopia, where conditions are also dire, agriculture officials said this week that some 4.5 million of its people will require humanitarian food through the end of the year.
The UN's World Food Programme said last week it expects 10 million people across the region to need food aid, revising upward an earlier estimate of six million.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h90sg_-fGbV22DEKEWHYBadlwcyg?docId=CNG.0ab2ac77281cfe1c695dd46990421301.511
(AFP) – 19 hours ago
UNITED NATIONS — UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he was "extremely worried" about the extreme drought threatening famine and death on a massive scale in the Horn of Africa.
"More than 11 millions people need urgent assistance to stay alive, as they face their worst drought in decades," the UN secretary general said. "This morning I called an urgent emergency meeting with the heads of UN agencies."
Ban said immediate action must be taken if millions in the Horn of Africa are to avoid starvation.
"We must do everything we can to prevent this crisis deepening. The human cost of this crisis is catastrophic. We cannot afford to wait."
Thousands of Somalis have fled their country in recent months to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia to seek help from the devastation.
In Ethiopia, where conditions are also dire, agriculture officials said this week that some 4.5 million of its people will require humanitarian food through the end of the year.
The UN's World Food Programme said last week it expects 10 million people across the region to need food aid, revising upward an earlier estimate of six million.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h90sg_-fGbV22DEKEWHYBadlwcyg?docId=CNG.0ab2ac77281cfe1c695dd46990421301.511
Monday 11 July 2011
Somalia drought to worsen, famine possible: US
Somalia drought to worsen, famine possible: US
(AFP) – 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The US government has warned that a drought in the Horn of Africa is likely to worsen by the end of the year, putting parts of war-ravaged Somalia at risk of famine.
"Our experts... expect the perilous situation in the Horn of Africa to worsen through the end of the year," Nancy Lindborg, a senior official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said Thursday.
"Given limited labor opportunities, the dwindling food stocks, and sky-high cereal prices, many households cannot put food on the table right now," she said at a House of Representatives commission hearing.
Lindborg said an initial assessment found that this year's harvest will be a "failure" in the southern Lower Shabelle region and "well below normal" in the neighboring region of Bay.
She said in a normal season the two regions account for 71 percent of the total cereal production of southern Somalia.
"As unfortunate as it may be, we do expect the situation in Somalia to continue to decline," Lindborg said.
"Famine conditions are possible in the worst affected areas depending on the evolution of food prices, conflict, and humanitarian response," she added.
She added that the United States would continue to work with the international community to explore ways of providing aid to Somalia and to people fleeing the country, which has been mired in war for two decades.
The United States said Wednesday it is ready to test the word of Somali Islamist insurgents, who control much of the country and have appealed for foreign aid in the face of the drought.
For two years the Shebab insurgents, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, have curbed foreign aid groups from working in the region.
The United Nations last week warned that 10 million people in the Horn of Africa -- which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea -- faced the worst drought in 60 years.
A poor rainy season and rising food prices have also led to severe food shortages in Kenya and Uganda.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jXiysHhkpaCoo39AdRFpXpBi5BlQ?docId=CNG.b25e50471bf7cd80f49ff0b9169e31d7.171
(AFP) – 3 days ago
WASHINGTON — The US government has warned that a drought in the Horn of Africa is likely to worsen by the end of the year, putting parts of war-ravaged Somalia at risk of famine.
"Our experts... expect the perilous situation in the Horn of Africa to worsen through the end of the year," Nancy Lindborg, a senior official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said Thursday.
"Given limited labor opportunities, the dwindling food stocks, and sky-high cereal prices, many households cannot put food on the table right now," she said at a House of Representatives commission hearing.
Lindborg said an initial assessment found that this year's harvest will be a "failure" in the southern Lower Shabelle region and "well below normal" in the neighboring region of Bay.
She said in a normal season the two regions account for 71 percent of the total cereal production of southern Somalia.
"As unfortunate as it may be, we do expect the situation in Somalia to continue to decline," Lindborg said.
"Famine conditions are possible in the worst affected areas depending on the evolution of food prices, conflict, and humanitarian response," she added.
She added that the United States would continue to work with the international community to explore ways of providing aid to Somalia and to people fleeing the country, which has been mired in war for two decades.
The United States said Wednesday it is ready to test the word of Somali Islamist insurgents, who control much of the country and have appealed for foreign aid in the face of the drought.
For two years the Shebab insurgents, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, have curbed foreign aid groups from working in the region.
The United Nations last week warned that 10 million people in the Horn of Africa -- which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea -- faced the worst drought in 60 years.
A poor rainy season and rising food prices have also led to severe food shortages in Kenya and Uganda.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jXiysHhkpaCoo39AdRFpXpBi5BlQ?docId=CNG.b25e50471bf7cd80f49ff0b9169e31d7.171
G8 'neglecting hunger fight pledge'
G8 leaders have been accused of neglecting a pledge to fight hunger in poor countries. Anti-poverty group ONE said the drought crisis in east Africa is a "wake-up call" to Governments who pledged to help feed the hungry in Africa two years ago.
A spokeswoman from the group said leaders of the rich world meeting at the G8 summit in Italy in 2009 pledged 22 billion US dollars (£13.7 billion) to go towards agricultural projects designed to put Africa on the road towards food self-sufficiency, rather than on emergency aid during famines and disasters.
But a report published on Sunday found that since world leaders pledged the cash, only a fifth of the money has been donated. With just one year to go until the deadline for the donations, the report found that the UK has only pledged 30% of the 1.7 billion dollars (£1.1 billion) it pledged, a ONE spokeswoman said. She said that collectively the countries have raised 22% of the financial pledges.
ONE executive director Jamie Drummond said: "World leaders are guilty of letting slide their promises to fight the root causes of hunger, in particular very low agricultural productivity in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. We should not need a food crisis to wake us up to the need to not just give food aid now, but also deliver on the promised partnership with African leaders, citizens and the private sector to boost yields across the region.
"Fortunately with food security on the agenda of the G20 later this year there is a real opportunity for a new partnership to turn this around. With the right support, Africans can both feed themselves and export to the world, helping them fight hunger and poverty and helping us all with lower food prices."
A ONE spokeswoman said the Government deserves praise for pledging emergency food relief for 1.3 million people in Ethiopia for three months in response to the current crisis. The Department for International Development donated £38 million to the World Food Programme which will provide the food aid that the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) will be distributing.
The worst drought in over half a century has hit parts of East Africa, affecting more than 10 million people. Thousands of families have travelled for days across scorched scrubland from Somalia to Kenya, including barefoot children with no food or water, after their crops and livestock were destroyed by drought.
The DEC, the umbrella body representing the UK's 14 leading aid agencies, said acute malnutrition has reached 37% in some parts of north east Kenya and child refugees from Somalia are dying of causes related to malnutrition either during the journey or very shortly after arrival at aid camps.
British donations to a DEC appeal for support have now risen to £8 million, the committee said. But the situation is set to deteriorate over the next three to four months and campaigners say continued funding is vital.
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/g8-neglecting-hunger-fight-pledge-16021724.html#ixzz1Ropetid4
A spokeswoman from the group said leaders of the rich world meeting at the G8 summit in Italy in 2009 pledged 22 billion US dollars (£13.7 billion) to go towards agricultural projects designed to put Africa on the road towards food self-sufficiency, rather than on emergency aid during famines and disasters.
But a report published on Sunday found that since world leaders pledged the cash, only a fifth of the money has been donated. With just one year to go until the deadline for the donations, the report found that the UK has only pledged 30% of the 1.7 billion dollars (£1.1 billion) it pledged, a ONE spokeswoman said. She said that collectively the countries have raised 22% of the financial pledges.
ONE executive director Jamie Drummond said: "World leaders are guilty of letting slide their promises to fight the root causes of hunger, in particular very low agricultural productivity in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. We should not need a food crisis to wake us up to the need to not just give food aid now, but also deliver on the promised partnership with African leaders, citizens and the private sector to boost yields across the region.
"Fortunately with food security on the agenda of the G20 later this year there is a real opportunity for a new partnership to turn this around. With the right support, Africans can both feed themselves and export to the world, helping them fight hunger and poverty and helping us all with lower food prices."
A ONE spokeswoman said the Government deserves praise for pledging emergency food relief for 1.3 million people in Ethiopia for three months in response to the current crisis. The Department for International Development donated £38 million to the World Food Programme which will provide the food aid that the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) will be distributing.
The worst drought in over half a century has hit parts of East Africa, affecting more than 10 million people. Thousands of families have travelled for days across scorched scrubland from Somalia to Kenya, including barefoot children with no food or water, after their crops and livestock were destroyed by drought.
The DEC, the umbrella body representing the UK's 14 leading aid agencies, said acute malnutrition has reached 37% in some parts of north east Kenya and child refugees from Somalia are dying of causes related to malnutrition either during the journey or very shortly after arrival at aid camps.
British donations to a DEC appeal for support have now risen to £8 million, the committee said. But the situation is set to deteriorate over the next three to four months and campaigners say continued funding is vital.
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/g8-neglecting-hunger-fight-pledge-16021724.html#ixzz1Ropetid4
Deaths 'extremely high' in famine camps
Convoys of minibuses are making the trip back and forth from the Somali border to refugee camps in Ethiopia, as people flee the worst famine in years. UNHCR Head of Emergency Operations Jo Hegenauer said the death rates in the camps are 'extremely high and they worry everyone'.
Figures are as high as ten per day in some camps. 'If we don't respond quickly to this..I think we're going to have serious long term problems', he said.
The UN warned last week that almost 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing a humanitarian emergency as the region struggles to deal with its worst drought for 60 years.
The BBC's Mike Woolridge reports from Kobe camp in Ethiopia.
Figures are as high as ten per day in some camps. 'If we don't respond quickly to this..I think we're going to have serious long term problems', he said.
The UN warned last week that almost 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing a humanitarian emergency as the region struggles to deal with its worst drought for 60 years.
The BBC's Mike Woolridge reports from Kobe camp in Ethiopia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)