The United Nations has declared famine in parts of southern Somalia, signalling to donors the need for more aid and to insurgents that the population's suffering is taken seriously.
The causes
High food prices and the driest years in decades have pushed many poor families into desperate need. In the Bay and Lower Shabelle regions, Somalia's traditional breadbaskets, nearly 11 per cent of children under five had severe acute malnutrition.
The effects
- Famine is defined as a crude mortality rate of more than 2 people per 10,000 per day and wasting rates of above 30 per cent in children under five years old across an entire region, according to Unicef.
- One in 10 children in parts of Somalia is at risk of starving to death, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, putting at least 500,000 children in jeopardy in the Horn of Africa.
- In all, more than 11 million people are affected and need emergency help, including 2.85 million in Somalia, where one in three children is suffering from malnutrition.
- Many have left their homes seeking help in large refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, making it easier for aid groups to reach them but raising the prospect of disease epidemics from large population movements and poor sanitation.
The role of militants
Aid groups have struggled to reach many of those affected because armed groups banished them from large parts of southern Somalia starting in 2009. Al Shabaab, Islamist insurgents affiliated to al-Qaeda that control pockets of the capital Mogadishu and swathes of southern and central Somalia, surprised aid workers two weeks ago with a pledge to allow relief agencies "with no hidden agendas" greater access to rebel-held territory. Some analysts say the insurgents are allowing aid in fear of a public backlash if they do not. Others say the rebels want to receive bribes. The UN refugee agency said it was seeking further security guarantees from armed rebels in Somalia in order to deliver greater amounts of assistance and prevent more hungry people from becoming refugees.
The solutions
- UNHCR has stepped up its work in southern Somalia, distributing aid to 90,000 people in recent days to areas including Mogadishu with another 126,000 due to receive supplies on Tuesday.
- The World Food Program has offices in four regions of Somalia from where it is trying to feed 1.5 million people. But the agency estimates that as many as 1 million people are in areas it can't currently access.
- USAID's deputy administrator Don Steinberg said he would meet with aid officials from other wealthy governments on Wednesday in London to discuss what could be done to help.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters