Somalia Famine: Have U.S.
Counterterrorism Policies Contributed To The Crisis In The
Horn Of Africa?
(Dhadhaab. Nov 30, 2011
Ceegaag Online)
When Al Jazeera's
staff met Ibrahim Aden in Kenya's Dabaab refugee camp, he
had just lost his one-year-old son. Five days earlier, he
had buried another of his sons. A third child, sick and
exhausted, was taking shelter in a nearby tent.
At least 450,000
Somalis have crossed the country's border with Kenya in
recent months, fleeing one of the worst famines East Africa
has seen in decades. For many, help came too late. US
officials estimate that more than 22,000 children under the
age of five have died in the crisis. Tens of thousands
Somalis have been killed, and at least 250,000 people are
still facing the threat of starvation.
In the first
episode of its new season, Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines traveled
to Somalia to investigate why saving the famine-stricken
region has proven so difficult.
Somalia faces
four harsh realities,
Fault Lines explains; the most severe drought
Eastern Africa has seen in 60 years; 4 million people facing
starvation; Al Shabaab militants, who control large parts in
the south and center of the country, blocking aid from
reaching those in need; and huge travel distances for those
seeking aid. "Access to the crisis is so bad that the UN
says it doesn't know how many people died," Al Jazeera
notes. "But it's certainty in the tens of thousands, most of
those children."
Why did the
international community fail to see the crisis coming? How
are international regulations on aid distribution affecting
the response to the crisis, and does U.S. counterterrorism
policy influence the distribution of aid in Somalia?
