UN warns two million people in Somalia at risk of starvation

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Drought, al-Shabab violence send thousands of Somalis to Baidoa, putting centuries nomadic way of life at risk.

The United Nations is warning some two million people in Somalia are at risk of starvation, amid the country’s worst drought since 2011, and is calling for more support from the international community.

Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to the country, UN Under-Secretary-General Mark Lowcock said decades of conflict and a lack of investment had undermined Somalia’s ability to cope with repeated humanitarian crises, even as droughts became more frequent and intense and the rainy season triggers recurring floods.

The UN’s most recent food security analysis showed the April to June harvest was the worse since 2011 thanks to poor and erratic rains, which were followed by flooding, it said in a statement.

“Up to six million people are now projected to be food insecure over the coming months,” Lowcock said. A third of them will be severely food insecure without sustained aid.” Climate change-related events would also continue to have “deleterious effects” on the country’s humanitarian situation, he added.

Some 2.6 million people have already been forced from their homes as a result of natural disasters, as well as conflict, the UN statement said.

The latest crisis comes with many people, who have for centuries lived their lives as nomadic farmers, still struggling to recover from the ravages of prolonged drought in 2017 that brought the country to the edge of famine.

Need outstrips resources

Lowcock led a group including senior officials from the World Bank to Baidoa in southwest Somalia, where some 360,000 people have fled drought, terrorist attacks and armed conflict in the past three years, finding refuge in 435 sites around the city.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Adow, reporting from Baidoa, said people were continuing to arrive in the city, and the population of the displaced now outnumbered the city’s original inhabitants.

Aid workers said more assistance was needed.

"The numbers of those in need keep growing by the day and far outstrip the resources we have,” Save the Children’s Mohammed Noor Mohammed told Al Jazeera. “The donors are trying their best, but we never seem to be able to catch up with the growing number of displaced.”

Some of the people in Baidoa said they had fled the violence of al-Shabab fighters and were fearful their children would be forced to join the armed group. Al-Shabab has been fighting for more than 10 years to topple Somalia's fragile government, which is backed by a 20,000-strong African Union force.

The UN says humanitarian assistance needs to be accompanied with more sustained peacebuilding efforts across Somalia and is working with the government to address the effect of repeated cycles of disaster.

“Conflict and marginalisation perpetuate drivers of fragility and fuel displacement,” said Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, who was part of the team that visited Baidoa.

“A sustained humanitarian response must be combined with government-led development and peacebuilding approaches to promote reconciliation and to assist people to rebuild their country.”

https://hiiraan.com/news4/2019/Sept..._people_in_somalia_at_risk_of_starvation.aspx
 

Basra

LOVE is a product of Doqoniimo mixed with lust
Let Them Eat Cake
VIP
OK its time for Minnesotans to come together and volunteer! in 2017 We collected more than 30 thousand dollars in donations
 

World

VIP
I think this is fake news. “Somalia famine” has become a way for NGOs to extort money and earn an revenue.
 
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Somebody explain to me how a nation with this coastline constantly goes through famine?

Somalis truly are the dumbest people on earth :snoop:
 
OK its time for Minnesotans to come together and volunteer! in 2017 We collected more than 30 thousand dollars in donations

@Basra

How much did the Somalis in Minnesota raise?

Somali famine: Ghana schoolboy raises aid money.

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Andrew Andasi (L) met WFP representative Ismail Omer to ask for advice .

An 11-year-old Ghanaian schoolboy has so far raised more than $500 (£300) for victims of the famine in Somalia.

Andrew Andasi launched his campaign last week after watching footage of people walking in search of food.

He told the BBC he wanted to raise a total of $13m during his school holidays from private donations.

After a meeting with the UN World Food Programme Bank director in Ghana to ask for advice, Andrew set up a bank account for donations on Tuesday.

"I'm very very sure that I can raise it in just one month," he told the BBC.

"I want individuals, companies, churches, other organisations to help me get 20m Ghana cedis."

TV guest
He said that UN organisations had advised him to raise money rather than food for his Save Somali Children from Hunger campaign.

"If they send it to Somalia they can buy it [food] somewhere around Somalia… because if we gather the food items it will take a long time and the plane will cost a lot," he said.

The BBC's Samuel Bartels in the capital, Accra, says the boy's determination has impressed Ghanaians and he has been appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows in recent days.

Ismail Omer, the WFP representative in Ghana, said he was impressed with his efforts.

"He is doing a lot of work and that is laudable," Mr Omer told the BBC.

"When he came to my office and said this is what he is doing, I was so delighted - I became emotional.

"I hope he can be a good leader to his generation."

Andrew, who has printed flyers and stickers for his campaign, said he was moved to act by seeing the images of Somali women and children walking for days in search of food.

He said he wanted to use his time off during his summer school holidays to help them.

"There has been serious hunger and death for [a] long time [in Somalia] - and if it goes on their country will be useless," he told the BBC at the headquarters of Ecobank Ghana in Accra after setting up a special bank account for donations.

"If I get the opportunity to go to Somalia I will talk and I will let the UN to make an announcement the warring groups in Somalia should stop because of the sick children and women," he said.

The UN says about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia.

More than 11 million people across the Horn of Africa have been affected by drought this year - the region's worst for 60 years.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14474860
 

Ras

It's all so tiresome
VIP
These warnings are a way for aid agencies to raise hundreds of millions from developed countries.

Sure they might help starving people in a drought but that just incentives those nomads to continue pastorialism.

If no one was there to bail them out whenever the rain stopped they could've moved to a city and in order to find another source of livelihood.

Necessity is mother of all inventions and I'm sure we would be adaptive enough to figure out an alternative if the other option was death by starvation.

However free food means no sacrifices are required.

This aid also floods our markets with free or cheap food (resold free food) that our domestic farms can't compete against.

So our nomads continue not contributing to our economy and our farms because unprofitable.

Thanks UN.
 

Vanessa

Support interracial love 💕
VIP
These warnings are a way for aid agencies to raise hundreds of millions from developed countries.

Sure they might help starving people in a drought but that just incentives those nomads to continue pastorialism.

If no one was there to bail them out whenever the rain stopped they could've moved to a city and in order to find another source of livelihood.

Necessity is mother of all inventions and I'm sure we would be adaptive enough to figure out an alternative if the other option was death by starvation.

However free food means no sacrifices are required.

This aid also floods our markets with free or cheap food (resold free food) that our domestic farms can't compete against.

So our nomads continue not contributing to our economy and our farms because unprofitable.

Thanks UN.
I don’t want my people to starve. What’s the solution?
 

Ras

It's all so tiresome
VIP
I don’t want my people to starve. What’s the solution?

Create large commercial farms and use a fraction of their output for drought insurance.

The nomads also won't need to travel so far out to find feed for their livestock.

They stay near towns and their kids get better access to education.

The gov could even subsidize animal feed in return for labour so they might not even have to go to look for pasture and water. (Most families only have a handful sheeps and camels so a couple hours of work covers a week's worth of feed and water for them).

More economic activities congregates around towns and cities and this in turn creates more opportunities for those there.

Soon enough they'll drop the livestock for better livelihoods.

Government doesn't even need hundreds of millions to pull this off. Just create the commerce and property rights laws and organize labour.
 

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