The United Nations has issued a famine declaration for several administrative regions in Somalia, including Lower Shabelle and Bakool. About one third of the population of this East African nation is at risk. A multi-year drought has created conditions affecting millions in the Horn of Africa and Somalia is experiencing the gravest humanitarian crisis.
Somalia has lacked an effective national government for nearly twenty years. Much of the northern part of the country has broken away into two quasi independent states, Puntland and Somaliland. The capital of Mogadishu is the seat of the internationally recognized government, which controls most of the city, the international airport and the sea port with the help of about nine thousands troops from the African Union. The remainder of the country is controlled by Islamist militias and tribal warlords.
Humanitarian assistance is being made available to northern Somalia and to the city of Mogadishu. The national government is unable to provide relief supplies in the famine stricken regions. The Islamist militias, primarily a group named Al-Shabab, have issued several conflicting statements about the famine and famine relief.
Because of the inability of relief organizations to operate in the regions where famine is greatest, tens of thousands of Somalis have left their homes. Growing refugee camps in Mogadishu and just over the border in Kenya are focal points for aid that is pouring into the Horn.
The U.N. estimates that 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate assistance with 2.8 million being in southern Somalia. The U.N. believes that the famine will spread throughout all of southern Somalia and persist until at least December 2011. Throughout the Horn of Africa, some 12.4 million people are currently being affected.
World agricultural ministers are scheduled to meet in Rome on August 18. The U.N. hopes to raise an additional $103 million for this crisis, having raised $57 million to date. The organization is dedicating $70 million towards the Somalia relief effort. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization has created a website devoted to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa www.fao.org/crisis/horn-africa/home/en/.
The United States is supporting relief efforts in Somalia. $69 million has been provided for refugee relief in the nations surrounding Somalia. The U.S. has also released 19,000 metric tons of food to the U.N. for distribution and has contributed $21 million to U.N. food efforts in country. On August 8, the White House announced that an additional $105 million was being made available for relief efforts in the Horn. A group of American officials, including Dr. Jill Biden, is in the region assessing the situation.
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