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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Aug 01 2011 - 13:17:43 EDT
Drought in Africa may affect 12 million
<http://english.ruvr.ru/by_author/49547665/index.html> Lyudmila Morozova
Aug 1, 2011 17:11 Moscow Time
The worst drought in sixty years, which hit the Horn of Africa, has turned
into a humanitarian disaster. Twelve million people are facing hunger
crisis- first of all, in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. Sudan and
Uganda are also at risk. Nearly 100 children die each day of starvation and
diseases in Somalia alone. The UN has announced that $2.5 billion is needed
to provide urgent food aide to the region. The EU has also claimed a greater
support to humanitarian missions in Africa.
Last week UN aircraft started delivering food and fresh water to Somalia, an
African country worst affected by drought. Children are among the first to
be addressed by UN workers, but the long-lasting civil war in Somalia makes
it difficult to reach distant areas, especially in the south now controlled
by Islamists. Clashes between Islamic extremists and the African Union
peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu force people to flee their homes and
settle in overcrowded refugee camps. Many children and elderly people die
during the escape.
Humanitarian cargoes sent by UN missions to Africa will save many lives, but
still this assistance cannot improve the life of the African population
forever, says Anatoly Savateyev of the Russian Institute of African Studies:
"The situation is critical. The largest part of Africa, primarily the
Sahara, is home to hundreds of millions of people. Moreover, the territory
of the desert has been expanding in the past decades, presenting a threat to
the local population. Tens of thousands of people died of hunger in Ethiopia
when it was affected by drought in the 1970s. The UN assistance cannot solve
the problem once and for all. The Sahara must be searched for new sources of
water but this requires huge investment. Apart from this, all Africans
should get an equal access to water. This all may take decades to
accomplish."
But before addressing these issues, it is necessary to force the sides
involved in the civil war sit down to talks. The south of Somalia is still
controlled by Al Shabaab militant group which is linked to Al-Qaida. The
group`s chiefs say Somalia needs no aid from abroad and do not allow
humanitarian cargoes into the region.
Somalis are forced to escape hunger and civil war. The number of refugees
coming to Dolo Ado camp in Ethiopia has already risen to 75,000. 114,000
more have settled at Dadaab in Kenya. According to the
UNHCR Public Information OfficerFatoumataLejeune-Kaba, every day the
Ethiopian border is crossed by 240,000 Somalis, while a bit more than 1,000
refugees travel to Kenya.
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