Massive famine in Somalia

[Lectric]

Guys this is serious.

90000 children have already died in the past few weeks in Somalia due to the corrupt government not providing for the people. Literally everyone in the country is starving to death, and it is said that 200000 more children will die in the coming few weeks. Somalia is expected to run completely out of food in 2 weeks.

However this is all being overshadowed by the riots in the United Kingdom, an event that pales in comparison to the horror in Africa.

Donating is not just a good thing to do, it is the HUMAN thing to do. It is shameful that we sit here turning a blind eye as infants starve to death. My last two paychecks have gone to donations, and I hope you take it upon yourselves to help the cause as well.

http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=40022&tid=001

[phrex]

donate. and hope that the money will find it's way in form of food to somalia.

/thread

[jameshk]

Jesus, the shocking thing is I havn't heard a thing about this until now. how long has this been going on for?!

[fractal]

Years

[noam]

yea read about this today

massive problems with rapings and murders aswell of the refugees

[knell]

Jesus, the shocking thing is I havn't heard a thing about this until now. how long has this been going on for?!

really? i've seen more about this in American news than the riots...

i've donated but i did it in the form of sponsoring someone who i trust to take food directly to the camps, that way I know something gets done, and not just stale crackers like some organizations like to send.

[firky]

Jesus, the shocking thing is I havn't heard a thing about this until now. how long has this been going on for?!

really? i've seen more about this in American news than the riots...

i've donated but i did it in the form of sponsoring someone who i trust to take food directly to the camps, that way I know something gets done, and not just stale crackers like some organizations like to send.

Some NGOs don't even use the money for aid but use plough it back into 'awareness' of their own organisation. I generally use DEC:

http://www.dec.org.uk/

Jesus, the shocking thing is I havn't heard a thing about this until now. how long has this been going on for?!

Arguably since the 80s in one form or another.

[nousd]

...due to the corrupt government not providing for the people.

um...
Those affected are mainly in the rebel-held areas where the drought is worst:

"The extremists have been preventing the provision of food to hungry Somalis and this (the islamist withdrawl from Mogadishu) has opened up the opportunity to help many more people," Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra, the African Union special representative to Somalia said late Monday.

The government is reported as welcoming renewed American food aid whereas, until recently, relief agencies were denied access to islamist areas.

[test_recordings]

I was reading about it in the Economist and it's basically the poorest areas on N.E Africa, the signs have also been apparent for quite a while but not in a way to trigger a reaction to a 'crisis' like now.

From what I can tell, on top of needing short-term aid, the people need some way of making a sustainable living for themselves to prevent this kind of thing happening

[gorillabearbear]

I have a terrible Charity anecdote: My sister did a placement for her medical degree in Madagascar. This was during the third or fourth year of her degree. Whilst there her and her friend were taken to an MRI machine, and asked by the doctors at the hospital if they knew how to use it; some aid organisation had given them the machine, but no training - not even a set of instructions in a language they could understand!

I know it's not really relevant but it's a story that I have never found less insane since I heard it.

Donating to this anyway. I'm pretty bad about donating to be honest, don't really have an excuse with that DEC link above.

[AntlionUK]

As soon as Somalia finds some oil I'm sure the rest of the world will rush in with America riding on a white noble stead leading the charge to over throw the evil regime in charge but until the governments think there is a good enough reason to use their resources to save the Somalian people they won't.

[AntlionUK]

why do you think they haven't done it yet?

[youthful_implants]

Its so awful I can hardly comprehend it. So sad. And such an unnecessary loss of life.

[firky]

As soon as Somalia finds some oil I'm sure the rest of the world will rush in with America riding on a white noble stead leading the charge to over throw the evil regime in charge but until the governments think there is a good enough reason to use their resources to save the Somalian people they won't.

The Chinese are busy transforming Africa bit by bit, country by country. Not the Americans. And unlike the Americans they don't give a shit about what's going on in the country or the labour they employ. They're doing it in many African countries. So what's worse, US intervention and regime change or the Chinese stand-off 'we don't give a shit if people are dying' approach?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/20a8a430-3167 ... e2340.html

The Chinese state oil giant, CNOOC, has won permission to search for oil in part of Somalia, underlining China’s willingness to brave Africa’s most volatile regions in its hunt for natural resources.

CNOOC and a smaller group, China International Oil and Gas (CIOG), signed a production-sharing contract with the interim government in May 2006. The contract, which gives the government 51 per cent of oil revenues, was endorsed at last November’s China-Africa summit in Beijing.

[firky]

why do you think they haven't done it yet?

Yet? What you on about yet? BP, Shell, Texaco et al were in Somalia until 1991.

[AntlionUK]

nm.

[Lectric]

no nation wants to help unless they see a return from it. The U.S. is pretending this isnt happening because they dont see any profit coming out of it.

Meanwhile:

[youthful_implants]

no nation wants to help unless they see a return from it. The U.S. is pretending this isnt happening because they dont see any profit coming out of it.

Thats not true though. No one is pretending this isn't happening. Somalia gets loads of aid. From the US, from the UN, from all over the place. The problem is the corruption of the existing government or militia, whatever, they don't let the aid get through. They use it as leverage.

Piracy hampers delivery of aid.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-develo ... ry-somalia

Aid stolen
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44147002/ns ... kmm4YKshBk

US promise $105 million in drought and famine aid to Somalia
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/afr ... 80028.html

[Pada]

I thought that guardian article was going to be about how downloading the latest drake album kills somalians..

[phrex]

bumping this just because the media is ignoring this once more....