The worst drought in 60 years has thrown some 13 million people across the Horn of Africa into crisis.

In Somalia, ravaged by two decades of conflict, the consequences have been disastrous. For over six months, aid agencies on the ground sounded the alarm that a major drought and famine was on the horizon.

Then in July and August, the world watched and international aid agencies scrambled as tens of thousands of Somalis fled famine and fighting in the devastated Southern part of the country, controlled by the armed group al-Shabab. And they continued to flee - to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, and refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia – in the following months, when the world seemed to lose interest.

Tens of thousands of Somalis have died and the UN has warned that three quarters of a million more are at risk of dying before the end of the year.

Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government, the Obama administration, and the United Nations have all blamed the anti-government group al-Shabab for restricting international aid operations in the areas they control. But is al-Shabab the only reason a drought and food crisis has turned into a deadly famine?

In the first of a two-part series examining the US response to drought and hunger in the Horn of Africa, Fault Lines travels to Mogadishu to meet refugees who have fled to the most war-ravaged city in the world to escape a worse fate, and the aid and medical workers struggling to help them. We examine the legacy of US engagement in Somalia and its efforts to address the current crisis.

Has aid in this region of the world become politicised? And has Washington’s pre-occupation with terrorism in the Horn of Africa contributed to the deadly consequences of this disaster?

By Unni Karunakara, MSF International President

The emergency unfolding in and around Somalia is being portrayed by many aid organisations and the media in one-dimensional terms, such as “famine in the Horn of Africa” or “worst drought in 60 years”. But only blaming natural causes ignores the complex geopolitical realities exacerbating the situation and suggests that the solution lies in merely finding funds and shipping enough food. Glossing over the man-made causes of hunger and starvation in the region and the difficulties in addressing them will not help resolve the crisis.

I have just returned from Kenya and Somalia and what I and my Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) colleagues are seeing indicates a profoundly distressing situation. In Mogadishu, I met a young woman from the southern region of Lower Shebelle who is now living in one of the many makeshift camps appearing all over the city. She left home with her husband and seven children because of a bad harvest and her inability to afford food and water. Somewhere along her trek, she had to leave her husband and three children behind, as they were too weak to complete the five-day walk.

Her story echoes those of thousands of other families in southern and central Somalia who have been ravaged by conflict for years and were tipped over the edge by drought. Malnutrition is chronic in many parts of the Horn of Africa and there needs to be a long-term international effort to ensure nutritious foods reach the people who need them. Today, however, the most urgent needs are concentrated in southern and central Somalia. Even if we do not have a full picture, we know the situation is dire from the large numbers of Somalis arriving in weak condition in the capital, Mogadishu, and at camps across the border in Kenya and Ethiopia.

The failed harvests exacerbated what was already a catastrophe. Somalia is the theatre for a brutal war between the transitional government, backed by western nations and supported by African Union troops, and armed opposition groups, most notably al-Shabaab. It is this war, combined with the internecine rivalries of the various Somali clans, that has kept independent international assistance away from many communities. The Somali people are trapped between various forces trying to weaken their opponents. There is virtually no access to healthcare in vast tracts of land across the country.

Against this backdrop, it is difficult for medical humanitarian organisations to expand health services and have an impact. MSF has been working in Somalia for two decades and has projects in nine locations on both sides of the frontlines. We already have more than 8,000 acutely malnourished children in our feeding programmes. But all four of the children I met who made it from Lower Shebelle have measles in addition to malnutrition. They live with thousands of other displaced people in crowded, unsanitary conditions. Others from these camps complain of skin and eye infections, watery diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections. Some are too weak even to seek food or healthcare.

Scaling up operations inside Somalia is slow, and we are constantly being forced to make tough choices. Without the ability to carry out independent assessments and provide assistance in what we believe to be the hardest-hit areas, we will not be able to prevent the worst consequences of this emergency.

Humanitarian aid has come to be seen by all sides in the conflict as either an opportunity or a threat. Al-Shabaab has placed bans on foreign staff, on the supply of medicines and materials by air, and on vaccination activities. Elsewhere, seemingly simple procedures like hiring a nurse or renting a car can turn into endless negotiations when a rapid response is needed.

Providing aid in Somalia today is about as grim as it gets. Our staff are at constant risk of being shot or abducted. And we may never be able to reach the communities most in need of help, or have to compromise some of our independence when we do reach them.

Impressive amounts of money for food and other supplies are being raised and sent to the region. But I am concerned with the last mile: getting assistance and supplies from the ports of Mogadishu to the people who need it urgently. Unless all parties remove the barriers that stand between organisations with the capacity to save lives and the people who rely on them for their survival, thousands more may continue dying preventable deaths.

Article was first published in the Guardian and taken from that website.

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A reality check on #Somalia, by #MSF Intl President @UnniKarunakara tinyurl.com/3mntadf #HornofAfrica #famine #al-shabaab #Mogadishu #war

September 5, 2011 11:23 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

For starters, the semi-arid zones in the Horn of Africa are relatively lightly populated compared with other regions of the world. For example, the population density of Somalia is about 13 persons per square km, whereas that of the US state of Oklahoma is 21.1. The western part of Oklahoma is also semi-arid, is suffering from a serious drought this year, and was the poster child for the 1930s Dust Bowl. Furthermore, if we take into account differing levels of consumption, with the average American consuming about 28 times as much as the average Somali in a normal year, then Oklahoma’s population density of 21.1 persons per square km equates to that of 591 Somalis.

Despite the fact that Oklahoma’s per capita impact on the landscape is more than 45 times that of Somalia (when accounting for population density and consumption levels), we don’t talk about overpopulation in Oklahoma. This is because, in spite of the drought and the collapse of agriculture, there is no famine in Oklahoma. In contrast, the presence of famine in the Horn of Africa leads many to assume that too many people is a key part of the problem.

Why is it that we often isolate population growth as the key environmental problem in the poorest regions of the world?

For starters, perhaps we assume that reducing the number of mouths to feed is one of the easiest ways to prevent hunger and famine. Having fewer or no children may be easy for a middle-class person in the United States, where raising children is expensive and most of us expect no economic return from our kids as they grow older. In fact, one could argue that having children in the American context is economically irrational.

Family asset

The situation is quite different in the Horn of Africa. It’s true that many families desire access to modern contraceptives, and filling this unmet need is important. However, for many others, children are crucial sources of farm labour or important wage earners who help sustain the family. Children also act as the old-age social security system for their parents. For these families, having fewer children is not an easy decision.

Families in this region will have fewer children when it makes economic sense to do so. As we have seen over time and throughout the world, the average family size shrinks when economies develop and expectations for offspring change.

Second, we tend to focus on the additional resources required to nourish each new person, and often forget the productive capacity of these individuals. Throughout Africa, some of the most productive farmscapes are in those regions with the highest population densities. In Machakos, Kenya, for example, agricultural production and environmental conservation improved as population densities increased. Furthermore, we have seen agricultural production collapse in some areas where population declined (often due to outmigration) because there was insufficient labour to maintain intensive agricultural production.

Third, we must not forget that much of the region’s agricultural production is not consumed locally. From the colonial era moving forward, farmers and herders have been encouraged to become more commercially oriented, producing crops and livestock for the market rather than for home consumption. This might have been a reasonable strategy if the prices for exports from the Horn of Africa were high (which they rarely have been) and the cost of food imports low.

Vulnerable to the market

While the global food prices were reasonable throughout the 1980s and 1990s, they have been climbing steadily since 2000. Global food prices reached a historic high in February of this year, surpassing the spikes of 2007-2008 (which were then the highest in 20 years). While the current prices are in part related to bad weather, other significant factors are high energy prices, increasing use of grain for biofuels, and export restrictions. Food prices in Somalia are now often three times as high as the normal, making these goods inaccessible to much of the population.

Finally, large land leases (or “land grabs”) to foreign governments and corporations in Ethiopia (and to a lesser extent in Kenya and Somalia) have further exacerbated this problem. These farms, designed solely for export production, effectively subsidise the food security of other regions of the world (most notably the Middle East and Asia) at the expense of populations in the Horn of Africa.

While making modern contraception available to those families who desire it in the Horn of Africa is a laudable goal, we must be careful not to assume that this is an easy fix to a hunger problem framed as driven by overpopulation. If overpopulation is defined as too many people for a landscape to support, then Oklahoma is clearly more overpopulated than Somalia.

Yet Oklahoma is not perceived as overpopulated because, in spite of a horrendous drought, it is not facing famine. Famine in Oklahoma is inconceivable because it receives a fair price for its exports, it has not leased its land to foreign countries, the poorest of the poor receive a helping hand from the government, and farmers and ranchers receive federal assistance in times of droughts. It is a lack of these factors in Horn of Africa, plus political insecurity in Somalia, which explain the famine – not overpopulation.

William G. Moseley is a human-environment and development geographer. He is a professor at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN USA and is the author of several books, including most recently Taking Sides: Clashing Views on African Issues (McGraw-Hill, 2011).

Article taken from AJE website. 

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William G. Moseley: In the Horn of #Africa, #population is not the main cause of #famine #Somalia #drought aje.me/p9NAp6

August 24, 2011 6:58 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

Hundreds of people – including many women and children – are believed to have been killed in raids in Jonglei State, South Sudan. Many more are wounded and MSF facilities were looted and burned.

MSF has treated dozens of victims since last Thursday’s attacks and strongly condemns the violence.

Numbers of deaths and wounded are difficult to confirm. But villagers told MSF staff that over 400 people have been killed in the town of Pieri alone, and almost half of the houses in the town have been destroyed.

Women and children shot

MSF has treated over 100 patients and referred another 57 to hospitals in Leer and Nasir following last week’s raid on Pieri and 12 surrounding villages.

The majority of the referred cases were women and children with gunshot wounds.

At least one of MSF’s South Sudanese staff members is confirmed to have been killed together with all of her household members.

Another staff member reported that he has had to bury 16 members of his family as a result of the violence.

A further 17 of MSF’s South Sudanese staff still remain unaccounted for.

MSF clinic attacked

The organisation’s compound and clinic have also been targeted by the raiders, who looted medical equipment, drugs and other valuable items and burned down parts of the MSF facilities.

“We condemn this attack on our medical facilities and the killing of our staff in the strongest terms,” said MSF Head of Mission Jose Hulsenbek.

“This is totally unacceptable. Medical facilities should always be respected as places of neutrality where patients and medical staff should have no fear of attack.” 

Large scale killings

“It is difficult to imagine the scale of this attack, this is so huge, we are still trying to assess all the casualties, the wounded and the damage,” added Ms Hulsenbek, explaining that vital water points have been destroyed and that most villagers spend the nights out in the bush for fear of new attacks.

“The South Sudanese authorities, the international community and other aid organisations should quickly step in to assist the victims of these large scale killings.” said Ms. Hulsenbek.

Urgent needs

In addition to the assistance MSF is already providing, there is an urgent need for shelter materials, food assistance and drinking water.

MSF is also concerned about the situation in areas that haven’t yet been reached due the remoteness and seasonal rains. Authorities should step up their efforts to ensure the safety of its population.

MSF continues to send in relief items and additional medical teams and equipment to scale up its assistance in the region.

Find out more about MSF’s work in South Sudan.

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OMG! Oh no! #SouthSudan: #MSF staff and civilians killed in raids tinyurl.com/42juyjz @MSF_canada #Sudan #humanitarian

August 23, 2011 2:28 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

They might not have the science to explain why the plants work, but they have the experience.

And the government in Botswana is trying to record all that is known before it vanishes for good.

Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste has been finding out more in Gaborone.

Aid agencies say a malnourished child can be nursed back to health in just a month, but the difficulty of getting supplies to trouble areas is hurting those most in need.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri reports from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

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Aid only trickles to Somali children tinyurl.com/3dx8nak #Somalia #drought #malnutrition #Africa #aid @AJEnglish

August 13, 2011 10:36 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

Remember Band Aid, Live Aid and developed countries’ determination to ‘Feed the World’? Well, we failed. There are more Africans living in extreme poverty today than ever before.

Africa Rising goes right inside the extraordinary story of how a large rural area of Ethiopia is taking itself out of poverty. With a cast of thousands, the film reveals a new dawn of Africans solving Africa’s needs themselves.

For the real scandal of Ethiopia is that, like much of the rest of Africa, it is a potentially rich country with enormous resources. But what has not been recognised, until now, is that the solution to its dilemma lies in the hands of its own people.

This controversial, colourful and frequently uplifting documentary highlights the failure of Western policies towards Africa, asking whether it is time to reconsider the role of Western aid workers on the continent.

Take a look around Ethiopia: in many regions schools lie abandoned; in others you find derelict hospitals; all around are vast areas of dry, barren land where the soil has been washed away.

Misguided Western governments and aid agencies thought they knew the answer – billions upon billions of dollars, euros and yen committed with virtually no long-lasting results and much of the money ending up in the wage packets of foreign aid workers, in bank accounts far from Africa.

But it did not need to be this way; with costs at just a fraction of the norm, the answer was astonishingly simple. Twenty men and women are taught new skills such as dam building, bricklaying, soil rotation, micro-banking or livestock rearing. The deal is that each of them has to pass their new-found knowledge on to 20 more people – their ‘followers’. Those ‘followers’ then pass it on to 20 more and so on. Within a short period, tens of thousands are now growing cash crops for the first time, digging irrigation systems and even building their own hospitals and schools.

Shot on a grand scale across great swathes of land, this film records a success story in one of the most deprived regions of the world.

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Africa Rising: Why aid is not the solution to poverty tinyurl.com/4xlbdo4 @AJEnglish @dambisamoyo #Africa #aid #poverty #drought

August 12, 2011 7:46 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite