Famine in Somalia

August 2, 2011 9:30 AM

A humanitarian crisis is developing in southern Somalia, where famine has left "tens of thousands of Somalis already dead and more than 500,000 children on the brink of starvation."

A severe drought has led to widespread crop failure and water shortages. Meanwhile, the Shabab militia, which controls most of southern Somalia outside of central Mogadishu, has banned immunizations and restricted most aid organizations from operating. There are also reports that Al-Shabab is trying to prevent residents from leaving, forcing people to travel by night and off-road to reach places such as Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, already home to hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees.

posted by Tsuga (19 comments total)

War is, quite literally, hell.
posted by swift at 9:38 AM on August 2, 2011

Both articles were written by the New York Times' reporter on east Africa, Jeffrey Gettleman, who is consistently one of the best sources for information on what is happening in Somalia.
posted by Tsuga at 9:39 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think this is still the same famine which was happening last Thursday
posted by adamvasco at 9:40 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

we could send in troops, wait.
posted by clavdivs at 9:48 AM on August 2, 2011

It's ridiculous this occurs in a world that produces $58 trillion of wealth in its GDP.

I have no clue about Somalia's oil situation or oil reserves but I can tell from our lack of inaction, care, and sporadic press coverage that it can't be too good.

Any good ways to give to help this disaster?
posted by skepticallypleased at 9:58 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

i know the American Refugee Committee is in the piece, but even they state it's hard to get $ there....seems legit though.
posted by skepticallypleased at 10:06 AM on August 2, 2011

I thought Somalia was a libertarian paradise.
posted by humanfont at 10:18 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

War is, quite literally, hell.

When lapsed Catholics die, they have to go fight in wars? I wonder if I'll go to the French Revolution? That would be interesting.
posted by longsleeves at 10:25 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

America isn't the only country on the planet with the ability to help them. The French could help. The UK could help. The Germans, Russians, Chinese (but of course no one expects them to), Japanese. Australia! Brazil? .... Canada...? New Zealand, Ireland, Finland?

Seems like everyone on the planet has their head up their prospective arses.
posted by Malice at 10:32 AM on August 2, 2011

When lapsed Catholics die, they have to go fight in wars?

I'm saying that if there's a literal hell, it's on Earth, and right now the quickest road there is through Somalia.
posted by swift at 10:53 AM on August 2, 2011

For those wanting to help, you can consider donating to unicef. They have a permanent programme in Somalia so I figured they're probably the fastest to convert money into help.
posted by valdesm at 10:53 AM on August 2, 2011

It's ridiculous this occurs in a world that produces $58 trillion of wealth in its GDP.

The problem is not lack of money - which has been fairly forthcoming and well-organized, in comparison to famines of the past. There has been something in the region of $750 million in donations already since the beginning of this year. The problem is a bunch of violent reactionary assholes who won't let aid reach the malnourished population and is using the drought as a tool to drive people off the land so they can take it over later.
posted by anigbrowl at 10:59 AM on August 2, 2011

help :

unicef

action contre la faim
posted by nicolin at 10:59 AM on August 2, 2011

how much of the UN program $$$ goes through all their diplomats and beuracrats and fancy car $$$??? i'm not saying unicef is bad, i have no clue if they are....perhaps it's a legit arm of the UN that keeps its own $$$ and avoids the bloated infrastructure of the UN also.
posted by skepticallypleased at 11:01 AM on August 2, 2011

Any good ways to give to help this disaster?

At this point I want to say no, there is not but I know that is not true. I do not support anymore U.S. aid going in then what is already been given or what we have currently agreed too.

Seems like everyone on the planet has their head up their prospective arses.

The worlds problems should not be our problem. Enough, bring our troops home from those areas that do not want us there- including Korea, starting in Germany, then Japan.

The war we should fight is how we can depend less on others resourses and work on our domestic issues. IOW, the worlds problems should not come from us and a obsolete world-wide trade system.
posted by clavdivs at 11:02 AM on August 2, 2011

Your mobile phone company also has a bloated inefficient infrastructure that makes a handful of people fabulously wealthy. An SMS's marginal costs is zero, hello!?! And they also have a monopoly on something you might want to do.

There are plenty of charities like the Gate's Foundation that focus upon maximizing their efficiency and long term impact, like by helping develop technologies that benefit poor countries, backing up micro-finance charities more functional places, etc.

If otoh you want aid dollars to wind up keeping people alive in Somalia, then you might need to go through a behemoth that probably only functions by bribing the evil fucks who create the problem.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:21 AM on August 2, 2011

Famine? How would we know ... it' s not trending on Twitter

We are the Whirled - Mark Fiore

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posted by Surfurrus at 11:31 AM on August 2, 2011

I do not support anymore U.S. aid going in then what is already been given or what we have currently agreed too.

So you're okay with hundreds of thousands of people dieing of starvation? Or do you think that stopping the already paltry amount of humanitarian assistance going to the region will somehow make things better?

For others, I recommend donating to Doctors Without Borders, who are not only at the Dadaab camp, but also are running the only remaining hospital inside southern Somalia. I don't see a way to contribute directly to their operations in Somalia, but a general contribution will mostly go, if not to supporting operations in east Africa, then at least to another part of the world with widespread medical needs.
posted by Tsuga at 11:33 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

I donated to Doctors Without Borders earlier today. I've been trying to find organizations focused on Turkana (in Northern Kenya) but have not found any organizations that are not Christian. I worked in Turkana a few summers ago doing paleontology and have seen at least two people I know in pictures from food aid being given in Lokichar and Loperot. If you are OK donating to religious organizations, World Vision does a lot in northwestern Kenya.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:52 AM on August 2, 2011