More Aid Needed in Famine-Hit Somalia

By Omid Ghoreishi
August 31, 2011

Humanitarian agencies in Somalia are broke and urgently need more money in order to continue to provide aid in the famine-stricken country.

That’s the message from Canadian Craig Kielburger of Free The Children who is currently in Kenya at the massive Dadaab refugee camp, built to shelter those fleeing the long-running conflict—and now famine—in Somalia.

International response to the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa has been slow said Kielburger, who believes it may be due to possible “donor fatigue.” Other aid organizations have made the same observation.

“We are doing what we can with what we can, but the need is far, far greater than the resources,” Kielburger said by telephone from Dadaab.

Even the U.N. World Food Program is experiencing a funding shortfall, he said.

“Many aid agencies are effectively out of money. The humanitarian response has been far lower than expected, and that’s being diplomatic—it’s been dramatically lower than expected given the scale.”

The U.N. declared famine in some regions of Somalia in late July. Tens of thousands of people have abandoned their homes in search of food and to escape violence, fleeing to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and to refugee camps on the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders.

Kielburger, who has been in the region since late June, said between 1,300 and 1,500 people arrive at the camp daily, with a backlog of 30,000 waiting for their cases to be processed. Initially built to shelter 90,000 refugees, the camp is now home to 400,000.

Perilous Trek

Many suffer unspeakably on the walk to the camp, which for some is a monthlong ordeal.

“I met a father here who had to bury three of his four children and his wife on the walk,” Kielburger said.

“Parents … can no longer cry because they are so physically and emotionally lost burying their children on the walks here.”

He recounted the story of a 3-year-old boy who was “literally skin and bones” after arriving at the camp and in such a dire situation that medical staff couldn’t feed him intravenously and had to force-feed him via the nostril to stabilize his condition.

Adding to the difficulty is the spread of contagious diseases. The World Health Organization has warned of a cholera pandemic in the region, and UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards has reported cases of suspected measles and related deaths in camps in Ethiopia, all adding to the fatalities.

The situation could worsen as more people become affected by the drought and the spread of disease.

“In November, [and] December, when we’re getting ready for the holidays and ready to celebrate Christmas, that’s when it’s going to be particularly bleak in this part of the world,” said Kielburger.

Rape and Violence

The vast majority of those at the camp are women and children, as men fear being force-recruited by the terrorist group al-Shabaab, or want to remain in order to keep their claim on their farmland, Kielburger said.

The result is that women are highly vulnerable, and many become victims of violence and rape.

“Their stories are heart-wrenching,” said Kielburger.

He said women and children are raped and subjected to violence and robbery as they make their way to the borders, even sometimes at the hands of Kenyan police officers.

“I’ve met women here who describe the violence that they’ve faced, the assaults, the sexual abuse they faced on the walk and it is horrific.”

While there is an effort to bus the refugees from the border regions to the camps, the current capacity is insignificant compared to the demand, he said.

There is also a problem of rape in the camps, particularly when the women venture out to cut wood to make a fire for cooking.

More Funding Needed

The head of UNHCR, Antonio Guterres, who visited Somalia last Tuesday, has called for more aid to help displaced Somalis in their own country.

“We should not aim at emptying Somalia, but rather at making every effort to provide aid inside [the country],” he said, according to a report by UNHCR.

The Canadian government has provided $72.35 million in humanitarian aid to the region, and is also matching donations made by individual Canadians.

On Aug. 25, African countries pledged $351.7 million at an African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

Kielburger laments “wavering” media and donor interest even as the situation is expected to become direr in the coming months, with the famine yet to peak.

“Much of the press attention right now has already shifted away,” he said, adding that with more money, aid organizations can do more.

“Whether it be a large aid agency or a mid-sized Canadian charity like ours, there’s not a single group here that with more resources wouldn’t be able to do more good.”

Humanitarian Mia Farrow, who visited the Dadaab camp last week, is urging people to help in whatever way they can to alleviate the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” unfolding in the region.

“I do not have the words to adequately convey the suffering and anguish of the people at Dadaab,” she writes on her blog.

“Without further delay governments MUST make good on their pledges, and each of us should do what we can, before millions of the world’s most vulnerable people starve to death,” she added.

With reporting by Joan Delaney

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/more-aid-needed-in-famine-hit-somalia-61002.html.