Lack of aid fuelling Somali refugee crisis

By Shabtai Gold Jul 27, 2011, 15:23 GMT

Johannesburg/Nairobi - As the United Nations prepared to start airlifting humanitarian assistance into Somalia on Tuesday, aid workers pleaded for more help for the drought-stricken country, hoping to stem the exodus of its people.

'The needs in Somalia are so big that the humanitarian response does not measure up,' said Nicole Engelbrecht of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

People are fleeing Somalia en masse, driven not only by two decades of civil war, but also by lack of food. Many, especially children, arrive in refugee camps in advanced stages of malnutrition - if they do not die along the route.

'They are walking for weeks across the desert, with little food and water and braving attacks by wild animals and armed bandits, and then sheltering in desperate conditions on the edge of refugee camps that are overcrowded,' said Alun McDonald of Oxfam.

Several aid workers interviewed by the German Press Agency dpa worry that unless world powers put all their muscle behind the relief efforts, what the Red Cross calls an 'appalling humanitarian crisis' will further deteriorate.

'This is not a new situation, but one ongoing for 20 years,' said Kenneth Lavelle, of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), referring to the collapse of the central government in 1991 and the subsequent civil war.

Drought over the last year has ravaged parts of the Horn of Africa and rains are not expected at least until September or October - if the dry spell does not persist.

Even then, without money to plant their crops ahead of the season, farmers locked in a poverty cycle will not produce food, and the famine will worsen.

'Pastoralists have been forced to sell assets and animals,' Engelbrecht explained. 'People over the last years have been weakened by each crisis, be it new dry spells or new waves of violence.'

Part of the problem is that aid simply cannot reach many vulnerable parts of the population, forcing them to flee. The nearly-defunct central Somali government estimates that 3.5 million people are at risk of starvation.

'The crisis is a lethal combination of natural and man-made causes,' said McDonald, who works out of Nairobi. 'The impact of the poor rains has been exacerbated by war and poor policies.'

According to the internationally supported government, most of those in need are located in areas of the central and southern parts of the country under the control of Al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist militia.

The group does not allow most aid agencies to operate in the areas it controls.

Even the Red Cross, which has access to most areas of the country - largely thanks to its policy of strict neutrality - says Somalia is 'not an easy country to operate in.'

While the UN World Food Programme (WFP) now plans to airlift aid to Mogadishu - to where over 100,000 internally displaced have flocked - getting supplies deeper into the country will be extremely challenging.

Some aid workers believe the UN Security Council should authorize a peacekeeping force, to secure the transport of aid into dangerous areas. Others worry such a conflation of military and humanitarian roles could damage aid efforts.

Al-Shabaab says it blocks agencies like the WFP because they are 'politicized' and in some instances spokesmen for the militia have accused the UN of exaggerating the crisis.

But the evidence belies their claims, with thousands fleeing each week to Kenya and Ethiopia. Aid workers bemoan the fact that not enough funds and space are made available for refugees outside Somalia, where accessing those in need is possible.

Those neighbouring countries are suffering too, in part owing to the forces of nature and climate change, but also because of mismanagement. The worst drought-affected parts of Kenya, says Oxfam, are those that have been chronically neglected by the government.

'We can put a plaster on today, but we need a longer term solution,' said Lavelle.

Without one, the worst is likely yet to come. The number of refugees has swelled past 800,000, according to the UN, and will continue to rise if Somalia remains mired in a war between innumerable factions.

'UN assessments suggest tens of thousands of people may have already died, but this number could get much higher if the aid response is not stepped up,' said McDonald.