Somalia (Page 2) kritz0: I could not fathom the thought of my child dying from starvation or exhaustion. I would like to also add. I understand it is heartbreaking to think about these parents having to deal with the thoughts and possibility of this happening every single moment, every single day that goes by. It would have to be a very mass effort, the food wars going on are not caused by everyone getting a fair share. They are being caused by the fact some get the aid, while others are left starving and scrounging for food that they cannot obtain.  Comrade_: ...and to think some people sit and say "The UN has been useless for decades." and "The UN doesn't need improvement; it needs to be abolished." You have hungry people, the government soldiers will also be starving and have starving families. It's not right what they're doing but you have to expect that human nature will step in. Comrade_: \\ caramel lady: "America promotes democracy; you can’t be serious sought out your own backyard before messing in others lol" [1] motherfingsuperwoman: "I think America needs to start looking out for America." [1] // -Those women said nothing on the famine or aid, they commented on democracy & governance...but of course some dishonest people will be fine in pulling statements out of context to prove a point. *******-*******------ Providing Food will be a continual thing, for now the plan looks short-termed but if it means saving lives then it should continue but the bigger picture needs to be addressed too, so this wouldn't repeat itself in the future.  Dalai Mama: Wow...for the first time I read an entire topic start to finish...gripping It is heartbreaking and tragic, as a mother I can't even bear to try to imagine watching my child die on the side of a road....and having to leave my child there because I have to try to save my other children. Every day I wake up thankful I live in the country I do and for the life I have. IMO....helping a little where you can is better than not at all. My oldest daughter and I went to Antigua on a mission trip in Jan of 2010...it was a life changing experience for both of us. My heart already hurts from that trip...and the hard life that most of these children have. And my heart hurts even more for the Somalians. I am humbled once again by all that my children and I have...we have food, running water, access to doctors, education opportunities....my children have something children in 3rd world countries don't...an almost certain guaruntee of a bright future Thank you for spotlighting this David dave3974: perhaps the un needs to take a lead ,the west is becoming tired of contributing to the bottomless pit that is foreign aid. the arab and african nations seem strangely silent   davidk14: . Somalia's drought 'problem for all humanity': Turkish PM By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 8/19/2011 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan toured famine-hit Mogadishu Friday on the first visit by a major leader in almost 20 years, calling the extreme drought ravaging Somalia "a problem for all humanity." "This is not only Turkey's problem. This is a problem for all humanity. The tragedy going on here is a test for civilization and contemporary values," Erdogan told reporters. The Turkish premier, accompanied by his family and four ministers on the visit, called on the world to take action. "The civilized world must successfully pass this test in order to prove that Western values are not made up of empty rhetoric," he said. The visit follows the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's Wednesday meeting in Istanbul which pledged $350 million to assist the drought- and famine-stricken Somalis. But Erdogan said the meeting did not meet expectations: "We had greater expectations at that point, but if you ask me if we fulfilled those expectations I cannot say yes." "I believe it is necessary to make investments here," he added, promising that Turkey will fund infrastructure projects including restoring a hospital, building schools, drilling wells and rebuilding the road from Mogadishu airport to the city. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed commended the Turkish government's efforts to help. "We are very grateful to the Turkish government and people for the tireless assistance they are giving. We will never forget how they stood by our side as friends in this time of humanitarian disaster," he said at the press conference. Erdogan and his host visited a field hospital established by the Turkish government as well as a former hospital turned military base that Turkey wants to rehabilitate as a hospital. The city's hospitals have also been overstretched with emaciated adults and malnourished children, many of whom have succumbed to the harshness of the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades. Rising cases of cholera and acute diarrhoea have compounded the misery of Somalis, the World Health Organisation and the UN children's agency UNICEF said Thursday. Some 4,272 cases of cholera or acute watery diarrhea have been reported in Mogadishu's Banadir hospital alone since January, the agencies said. The disease has also been confirmed in four southern Somalia regions and the number of cases has risen. Cholera is endemic in Somalia but the last major outbreak dates back to 2007 when 67,000 cases were recorded. Aid agencies have warned that the whole of southern Somalia could be hit by famine in the coming weeks. Much of southern Somalia, including the majority of regions declared to be in famine, remains under the control of the extremist Shebab militia. . davidk14: . UN: 300,000 Children At 'Risk Of Dying' In Somalia by The Associated Press August 19, 2011 More than 300,000 children in the Horn of Africa are severely malnourished "and in imminent risk of dying" because of drought and famine, the head of the U.N. children's agency said Friday. The United Nations says that tens of thousands of people have died in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti — and the organization warns that the famine hasn't peaked. More than 12 million people in the region need food aid, according to the U.N. "The crisis in the Horn of Africa is a human disaster becoming a human catastrophe," UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told reporters. In Somalia alone, he said, 1.4 million children are affected, an estimated 390,000 are suffering from malnutrition, and nearly 140,000 in the south-central region are facing imminent death from "severe acute malnutrition." While UNICEF, the Red Crescent and other organizations are working in the south-central region, providing food and water and operating nutrition centers, Lake predicted "the crisis will get worse." "Let me warn that by the next rainfalls in October, we project that all of central and south Somalia will suffer the same extreme food and nutrition crises as is the case in the worst areas there today, with twice as many children — almost 300,000 — in imminent peril," he said. Lake said children are the most vulnerable and suffer most in disasters like the current drought and famine. "In many ways this is a children's crisis and their plight demands our most urgent, bold and sustained response," he said. He added: "We are in a fight against time." Friday, Muslim nations in the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation pledged to contribute $350 million to aid famine victims in Somalia and its Horn of Africa neighbors. . davidk14: . David comments: The UN and the world waited too long. Mass starvation, disease and mass deaths have set it. I have read a number of UN articles today, far too many to post, not that anyone would read them anyway. Aid agencies are overwhelmed. The children are dying by the dozens and soon by the hundreds and thousands and not a peep from mainstream news agencies. One of the reasons aid has not reached the millions of children and tens of millions of Africans in the affected areas…Al Qaida. These criminals did however leave Mogadishu a few weeks ago stating that they left to “regroup”. I feel however they left because they, Al Qaida had completed their work of creating a climate of death by not allowing aid agencies to deliver their aid supplies. Another reason aid has not reached the millions of children and tens of millions of Africans in the affected areas…The US, the UN and other countries did not put significant numbers of boots on the ground to confront Al Qaida and its alliances, not even to protect the relief supplies so they would get to the people who needed the aid the most. There are areas of Somalia under the direct control of Al Qaida that have not yet seen a dime of aid and the millions of people in these area are... Final thought for today… What’s really sick is this…. • The amount of money that is needed immediately today is 1 billion dollars. To put this in perspective, 1 billion dollars is what the US spends in [approxiamtely] 4 [to six] hours on the interest on the debt. • The amount of Troops needed to successfully distribute aid would be approximately 100,000 boots on the ground…the same amount of troops just withdrawn from Iraq. …to save hundreds of thousands of human lives…if not millions. Top news topics today…Kardasian getting married….President Obama Briefed on Libya While Vacationing in Martha's Vineyard…Six Steps to Increase Your Blog… Next time you turn on the faucet to drink a glass of water, or tuck in your child in bed, take a moment and count your blessings. Edit [added] . (Edited by davidk14) davidk14: Famine-struck babies in Somalia lose fight to live Agence France-Presss August 19, 2011 MOGADISHU - With a ragged breath soft as the beat of a butterfly's wing, two-year old Mahmud Mohamed sighed, rolled his eyes upwards towards his mother, and died, succumbing to the effects of the extreme drought ravaging the Horn of Africa. "My child is gone," his mother Mulmilla said quietly. Then she gently closed his eyes, wrapped the tiny body in a colourful scarf, bound it with scraps of material, and bore it outside to be buried. Parts of southern Somalia, including war-torn Mogadishu, are reeling from a brutal famine, the first to be declared by the United Nations this century. Thousands have died, according to the UN, and exhausted nurses in Mogadishu's Benadir hospital barely looked up as Mulmilla left slowly carrying her son. A dozen severely malnourished babies remained on the long bench reserved for the most extreme cases brought in by desperate parents, many of whom had trekked for days from outside the city to reach help. The hospital — a decrepit building without clean water or regular electricity that is the main children's ward for Somalia's capital — is as good as it gets for those struggling to survive here. "There are so many coming, and we are doing what we can," said nurse Asli Ali, taking a brief break in between fixing feeding tubes up the noses of skeletal children too weak to eat food normally. "They come everyday, and many are too sick," she added. Many, like Mohamed, are arriving too late for anything that the basic services the grossly overstretched hospital can offer. In the hour before Mohamed passed away, three other children in the cramped ward also died, health workers said. Like Mulmilla — who fled the famine-hit Lower Shabelle region to Mogadishu only to find hunger in the displaced camps here — more than 100,000 people have arrived in the dangerous city to escape drought in recent months. "There too many to cope with," Ali added, waving at the room, where even wooden office desks are used as hospital beds. Some simply sleep on the floor: mothers and children use empty cardboard boxes — once filled with specially nutritious peanut paste packs supplied by the UN children's agency — as mattresses. There is no space available to separate children infected with an outbreak of measles — a common cause of death for children weakened by malnutrition — from those not infected by the virus. A sickly cough from a nine-year old on a stretcher briefly raised a thick cloud of flies that quickly settled back onto him. The stretcher has a hole cut for children sick with diarrhea, underlining a UN warning that a cholera epidemic could spread swiftly. Given the number of people crammed inside, the ward was eerily quiet, with children apparently too tired to cry. Many have come from the dozens of new camps appearing in the war-ravaged city, squeezed inside ruins of bombed-out buildings. Despite a ramping up of aid efforts and international pledges of support, the situation remains dire. But outside the capital it is feared to be far worse — areas under the control of the al-Qaida-affiliated Shebab rebels, whose draconian ban on key foreign aid groups is blamed for exacerbating drought into famine. . memberX: Somalia is in fact one beautiful county...it is very rich with minerals, precious jam stones(may be the richest in the world with mineral wealth)...i think that some one should take that away ... davidk14: . AP: Somalia famine aid stolen; U.N. investigating By KATHARINE HOURELD Associated Press August 15, 2011 11:12AM MOGADISHU, Somalia — Thousands of sacks of food aid meant for Somalia’s famine victims have been stolen and are being sold at markets in the same neighborhoods where skeletal children in filthy refugee camps can’t find enough to eat, an Associated Press investigation has found. The U.N.’s World Food Program for the first time acknowledged it has been investigating food theft in Somalia for two months. The WFP said that the “scale and intensity” of the famine crisis does not allow for a suspension of assistance, saying that doing so would lead to “many unnecessary deaths.” And the aid is not even safe once it has been distributed to families huddled in the makeshift camps popping up around the capital. Families at the large, government-run Badbado camp said they were often forced to hand back aid after journalists had taken photos of them with it. Ali Said Nur said he received two sacks of maize twice, but each time was forced to give one to the camp leader. “You don’t have a choice. You have to simply give without an argument to be able to stay here,” he said. The U.N. says more than 3.2 million Somalis — nearly half the population — need food aid after a severe drought that has been complicated by Somalia’s long-running war. More than 450,000 Somalis live in famine zones controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants, where aid is difficult to deliver. The U.S. says 29,000 Somali children under the age of 5 already have died. International officials have long expected some of the food aid pouring into Somalia to go missing. But the sheer scale of the theft taking place calls into question aid groups’ ability to reach the starving. It also raises concerns about the willingness of aid agencies and the Somali government to fight corruption, and whether diverted aid is fueling Somalia’s 20-year-civil war. “While helping starving people, you are also feeding the power groups that make a business out of the disaster,” said Joakim Gundel, who heads Katuni Consult, a Nairobi-based company often asked to evaluate international aid efforts in Somalia. “You’re saving people’s lives today so they can die tomorrow.” WFP Somalia country director Stefano Porretti said the agency’s system of independent, third-party monitors uncovered allegations of possible food diversion. But he underscored how dangerous the work is: WFP has had 14 employees killed in Somalia since 2008. “Monitoring food assistance in Somalia is a particularly dangerous process,” Porretti said. In Mogadishu markets, vast piles of food sacks are for sale with stamps on them from the World Food Program, the U.S. government aid arm USAID and the Japanese government. The AP found eight sites where aid food was being sold in bulk and numerous smaller stores. Among the items being sold were corn, grain, and Plumpy’nut — a specially fortified peanut butter designed for starving children. An official in Mogadishu with extensive knowledge of the food trade said he believes a massive amount of aid is being stolen — perhaps up to half of aid deliveries — by unscrupulous businessmen. The percentage had been lower, he said, but in recent weeks the flood of aid into the capital with little or no controls has created a bonanza for businessmen. The official, like the businessmen interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. The AP could not verify the official’s claims. WFP has not said how much food aid it believes is being diverted. At one of the sites for stolen food aid, about a dozen corrugated iron sheds are stacked with sacks. Outside, women sell food from open 110-pound (50-kilogram) sacks, and traders load the food onto carts or vehicles under the indifferent eyes of local officials. Stolen food aid is not new in Somalia — it’s the main reason the U.S. military become involved in Somalia during the country’s 1992 famine, an intervention that ended shortly after the military battle known as Black Hawk Down. There are no indications the military plans to get involved in this year’s famine relief efforts. WFP said in a statement that it has put into place “strengthened and rigorous” monitoring and control in Somalia. “However, given the lack of access to much of the territory due to security dangers and restrictions, humanitarian supply lines remain highly vulnerable to looting, attack and diversion by armed groups,” WFP told the AP. Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman said the government does not believe food aid is being stolen on a large scale but if such reports come to light, the government “will do everything in our power” to bring judicial action. The AP investigation also found evidence that WFP is relying on a contractor blamed for diverting large amounts of food aid in a 2010 U.N. report Eight Somali businessmen said they bought food from the contractor, Abdulqadir Mohamed Nur, who is known as Enow. His wife heads Saacid, a powerful Somali aid agency that WFP uses to distribute hot food. The official with extensive knowledge of the food trade said at some Saacid sites it appeared less than half the amount of food supplied was being prepared. Attempts to reach Enow or his wife for comment were not successful. .  (Post deleted by somalipiabootyliciou ) sebtheanimal: Somalia is just about the closest place to hell on earth. No tangible US interest remain there so other than meager food aid they will get nothing. Half the aid falls into terrorist hands anyway. Their waters might as well be mined to prevent piracy. Solve your own issues Somalia, to give a man a fish is no aid at all. zerostate: if i see somalia,, how hypocrite usa and europe are..they always shout about humanity but where are they for somalia? that fact the always think about profit for country!!!!!!! i more love china,,,they arent hypocrite.  liibaan11: all the world forget somalia and the stravation is a partial what somali people suffering davidk14: . The US got its nose bloodied under the Clinton administration in the early nineties by Al Qaida and other terrorist groups while providing security for the food distribution people. I don’t think the US has forgotten that. Some 18 years later, these terrorist organizations are much stronger. Also, these thugs have over 600 hostages from their piracy of shipping and have hundreds of millions of dollars from previous hostage trades and have bought huge amounts of weapons and also have had plenty of time to fortify themselves. I believe these criminals would love to mix it up with US forces. The current administration is keeping arms length and only providing money to the UN aid agencies. No boots on the ground will be seen. . zerostate: why usa and NATO didnt use military power to beat al-qaeda in somalia like they did in iraq afghanistan or yaman? bcos somalia is poor country and wouldnt give usa advantage even they would be alqaeda nest | Politics Chat Room 38 People Chatting Similar Conversations |
