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Somalians watch as food aid arrives for distribution (AP).
Somalia Entrenched in Cycle of Severe Famine
Chronically chaotic, Somalia once again falls victim to famine and Islamic extremism, but increased aid and an international peacekeeping presence could turn things around.
30-Second Summary
Millions of Somalis are at risk for starvation from food and water shortages, leaving them dependent on humanitarian aid, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Pascal Hundt of the ICRC’s Somalia delegation said, “The Somali people are going through unbearable hardship.”
Somalia appears stuck in a cycle of severe famine. From 1991 to 1993, the country’s ravaged crops resulted in the deaths of close to a quarter of a million people, and the displacement of nearly two million.
Recovery often seems hopeless for this war-torn nation in the horn of Africa, lacking a stable government and freckled with violent Islamic extremists. But some experts are advocating for increased foreign aid and peacekeeping troops in order to establish stability. They face an uphill battle.
In December 2006, turmoil boiled in Somalia after the Islamist movement at the helm of the country abandoned its bases in Mogadishu. Since then, a Transitional Federal Government has been in place, and has faced considerable challenges from opposition clans and Islamist terrorists.
In recent years, foreign aid workers have been targeted by Islamic extremists as revenge for U.S. air strikes aimed at terrorist suspects, prompting withdrawal of humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
Somalia’s unrest is a huge deterrent, but without the presence of UN peacekeeping troops, the spiral of inhumanity may never end.
Pascal Hundt of the ICRC’s Somalia delegation said, “The Somali people are going through unbearable hardship.”
Somalia appears stuck in a cycle of severe famine. From 1991 to 1993, the country’s ravaged crops resulted in the deaths of close to a quarter of a million people, and the displacement of nearly two million.
Recovery often seems hopeless for this war-torn nation in the horn of Africa, lacking a stable government and freckled with violent Islamic extremists. But some experts are advocating for increased foreign aid and peacekeeping troops in order to establish stability. They face an uphill battle.
In December 2006, turmoil boiled in Somalia after the Islamist movement at the helm of the country abandoned its bases in Mogadishu. Since then, a Transitional Federal Government has been in place, and has faced considerable challenges from opposition clans and Islamist terrorists.
In recent years, foreign aid workers have been targeted by Islamic extremists as revenge for U.S. air strikes aimed at terrorist suspects, prompting withdrawal of humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
Somalia’s unrest is a huge deterrent, but without the presence of UN peacekeeping troops, the spiral of inhumanity may never end.
Headline Links: Famine resurfaces in Somalia
Millions of Somalis are at risk for starvation from food and water shortages, leaving them dependent on humanitarian aid, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Harsh weather has impaired crops, and armed conflicts have exacerbated the situation.
Source: CNN
According to The New York Times, Somalia’s plight resulted from the collision of the global food crisis with local chaos caused by “skimpy rainfall, disastrous harvests, soaring food prices, dying livestock, escalating violence, out-of-control inflation, and shrinking food aid because of many of these factors.” In May 2008, experts predicted famine in the coming weeks.
Source: The New York Times
Background: Somalia’s shaky government
In December 2006, turmoil boiled in Somalia after the Islamist movement at the helm of the country abandoned its bases in Mogadishu. While Islamists fled to the southern port city of Kismayo, Ethiopian allies joined the Somali government in reassuming control of the capital. However the threat of extremism remained. Islamic extremists “may still try to turn the country into another Afghanistan.”
Source: The Guardian
According to The New York Times, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government admits it is “on life support.” Without more “international peacekeepers, weapons, training and money to pay soldiers” the government fears it will fall again, as Islamists bolster troops.
Source: The New York Times
Related Topics: Foreign aid workers deterred
In February 2008, a roadside bomb that killed two foreign aid workers and two others in southern Somalia prompted their employer, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, to suspend operations in the country. Few aid workers risk going to Somalia for fear of being kidnapped or killed, reports Reuters.
Source: Reuters
In March 2008, the United States staged a missile strike in southern Somalia, targeting a house where several accused Islamic terrorists were thought to be living. Six people were wounded while hundreds fled Dobley, a town four miles from the Kenyan border. The strike was one of four carried out by the United States since war broke out in December 2006, inspiring anti-U.S. sentiment in Somalia.
Source: The Washington Post
In May 2008, two Italian aid workers and the Somali man they worked for were kidnapped by armed gunmen in the village of Awdhigle, Somalia. According to the BBC, “Somali insurgents vowed to target foreign aid workers after a U.S. air strike killed the head of the al-Shabab militant group” earlier that month.
Source: BBC
Opinion & Analysis: Instability and how to fix it
Somalia has a historically ineffective central government, and has long suffered from war and poverty, leaving the door open for Muslim extremists to train relatively freely. One clan-based army leader in Somalia said, “There’s very little difference between Somalia and Afghanistan, and only the U.S. can help us kick them (extremists) out.”
Source: PBS
In 2006, when Islamists were driven out of Somalia, the intentions of Ethiopians entering the country, supposedly to aid the Somali interim government, were questioned. “Does the government in Addis Ababa want its neighbor to become as weak as possible? To become a non-functioning state in the control of criminal bands, too busy dealing with its own problems to pose a threat to Ethiopia?” asked one critic.
Source: De Spiegel
In a 2007 editorial, Robert Rotberg, director of the Harvard University Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution, called for “concerted action by the powers of Europe and the United Nations,” particularly French troops in nearby Djibouti, to “prevent Somalia from reverting to insecurity and warlordism.” Furthermore, said Rotberg, outside forces need only focus on southern Somalia.
Source: Belfer Center
Somalia needs a plan for “long-term stability,” rather than a “narrow focus on chasing terrorists,” a Time magazine article asserted. Ultimately, international peacekeepers are necessary to work toward “reconciliation among the government, the Islamists, and Somalia’s myriad clans,” the article said.
Source: Time
Reference: Somalia’s contemporary history
PBS chronicles “Somalia’s Struggle for Stability” with reports on U.S. involvement, al-Qaida in Somalia, and the country’s history with Ethiopia and Eritrea; profiles of Somalia’s transitional government, and relevant Islamist groups and warlords; as well as a map and political timeline, and news updates of Somalia’s humanitarian crisis.
Source: PBS
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