The Relief Crisis in Somalia

Transcription

1 Report The Relief Crisis in Somalia Abdullahi Abdul Qader Mohamed Al Jazeera Centre for Studies Tel: January 2012

2 Food security students learn that drought and aridity are natural disasters and that famine is political but precautionary measures can be taken to prevent its repercussions. There are drought-stricken countries and regions in both the developed and third worlds but neither famine nor human suffering ensued as a result. The recurrent famines in the Horn of Africa, now at their worst, could have been prevented and prepared for. However, bad planning, indifference, and even inability to foresee the looming problem are the key culprits in these famines. Although all the countries in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti are affected by famine, Somalia was hit the hardest, especially in the south. This fact is attributed to a host of factors. One of which is the absence of an effective Somali government. Another is the fact that the current Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is totally crippled and has only limited control over parts of Mogadishu, although it has been trying lately, with the aid of African Union peace-keeping forces, to extend this control, following the withdrawal of the Somali Youth Movement (SYM) from the capital in August The refusal of the SYM to deliver relief aid to areas under its control, which are most affected by the famine, further aggravates the crisis and impedes relief efforts. A third factor is the use of food by the US-led international community as a punitive weapon in their so-called war on terror, although Somalia ranks third in this war after the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. In this paper, we look not only at the American role in the Somali famine and Western media coverage of Somali suffering, but also at the roles played by Somalia's neighbors, international organizations, and as local and international Islamic organizations. As merely a descriptive account, this paper is by no means a comparison between the Western role and its local Islamic counterpart. The United States, with which we will start our discussion, had been the biggest financier of relief efforts in Somalia where there were no less than a million refugees living on relief aid before the famine ravaged Somalia, especially in the south. Americans say they offered $300 million in relief aid to Somalia in That same year, the US government dubbed the SYM a terrorist organization. In late 2009, relief work by US organizations such as Mercy Corps, USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network, World Vision International, and CAIR was outlawed in SYM-controlled areas under the pretext that these organizations were either gathering information for the US government or Christianizing Somalis. That same year, the World Food Program (WFP) pulled out of Somalia after the SYM had taken control of its warehouses and confiscated its properties. Thus, only the International Red Cross remained in SYM-controlled areas i.e. mainly in the south and central south of Somalia. In April 2010, United States President Barrack Obama issued an executive order prohibiting US organizations and even non-us organizations receiving aid from them from working in areas under SYM control or dealing with the "terrorist" group. With the classification of the SYM as a terrorist organization and outlawing any dealing with it or work in areas under its control, organizations that violate these orders could be constrained and individuals could receive jail sentences of up to fifteen years. President Obama relied on the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 that bans any material support to terrorist organizations. The Act, however, makes exceptions for medical or humanitarian cases, books, and religious leaflets. All other material and nonmaterial support, including, but not limited to, food and water supplies, financial aid, training, transportation, and communication kits, are strictly verboten. In addition, the United States government suspended $220 million in food aid originally allocated for the WFP in Somalia, under the pretext that this aid could fall into the hands of the SYM or its supporters. Humanitarian relief agencies then warned that the United States' move could result in a food crisis in southern Somalia. In a press conference in July 2011, United Nations Humanitarian Relief Coordinator announced that southern Somalia was suffering from a serious humanitarian condition as a result of the famine. However, despite their country's international leadership, vast 2

3 resources, and ability to deliver aid to famine victims, US humanitarian agencies could do nothing for Somalis who, especially children, die by the tens daily. In fact, the international community predicts the death toll in Somalia will reach 750,000 in the next few months. US failure to help Somalia made many weary of its reprisal in case they deal with the SYM in areas under its control. The biggest problem is that American humanitarian organizations try rigorously to obtain exemptions from the aforementioned act, but some members of the US administration do not want to see the ban lifted, claiming that the SYM will benefit materially and morally from international aid distributed in areas under its control. The implicit result of this US position is that millions of children, elderly and weak people, who cannot run for their lives, are left to face famine, diseases, death, and ultimately, total annihilation. In a development more akin to farce than to the serious situation now unfolding in Somalia and leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of people, thus requiring an immediate solution, the ruling elite in Washington is trying to enlist the Somali famine in the service of internal politics. Republicans and Democrats are trying to outrace each other in this Somali "gold-rush." Republicans are even comparing Obama to President Bill Clinton whose administration did absolutely nothing in 1994 to stop Rwanda's ethnic cleansings and massacres when it had all the leverage to do so. The sum total of the US government's Somali famine relief aid so far is estimated at $70 million, which is too insignificant compared to US per capita income, and even begs unfavorable comparison with aid provided by the nascent Republic of South Sudan whose per capita income and population fall far behind their US counterparts. Some academics argue that the situation should not remain as it is, and that putting all the blame on the SYM or the fact of a powerless Somali government exonerate neither the United States nor the international community. These lone voices call upon the United States to enter into limited dialogue with the SYM a call that may be rejected not only by the Obama administration but also by the SYM which fears that the US will exploit the situation. Ken Menkhaus, an American expert on Somalia and the Horn of Africa, calls for this kind of ceasefire-like dialogue with the participation of the leaderships of the Islamic world in order for aid to be delivered to famine victims. Nonetheless, he stipulates that the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) refrain from exploiting this temporary reconciliation just the US government should avoid seeking to weaken the SYM during this period, which will not exceed a few months. More importantly, in case the SYM rejects this initiative, he proposes some sort of military intervention in SYM-controlled areas. As military intervention in Somalia is haunted by bitter memories, he strangely nominates Ethiopia for this task. Not oblivious to the significance of an Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia, and given Ethiopia's past experiences there, he proposes that Ethiopian forces be reinforced by forces from the Islamic world. Without such a precautionary measure, all the go-aheads from the United States and United Nations will only fail. However, all these proposals, analyses, and probabilities are challenged by the American siege which, according to claims by the US media, the Obama administration is trying to ease. There is currently no indication that the US or the rest of the world is ready to flood Somalia with medicine and food, or put an end to starvation there. UN reports indicate that relief efforts currently going on in areas not under SYM control is below the desired level. Western media coverage of Somalia has characteristically marginalized human suffering there and focused instead on issues of interest to Western politicians such as SYM terrorism, piracy, the impotence of TFG, and the role of African Union forces. In effect, these facts were manipulated to falsify the situation. While it is true that there is no stability and no effective government in Somalia, and that the SYM prevents the delivery of relief aid to famine victims, it is equally true that the United Nations and the developed world both refuse to admit or be ready for the looming disaster. Western media was preoccupied with such issues as the European debt crisis, the wire tapping 3

4 scandal in Britain, and the shooting spree by a Norwegian gunman that left tens of people dead. News of famine and human suffering in Somalia were featured only after these preferred topics. Tendentiously, all news reports blamed the famine on the SYM, as if other areas not controlled by the SYM have had more than enough relief assistance. News agencies reported that tens of Somali children were dying daily in camps inside Ethiopia near the Somali border. On July 21, 2011, The Times of London featured a cartoon of an emaciated little Somali boy with a distended belly, proclaiming to the world, "I've had a bellyful of phone hacking." Although the cartoon speaks for itself, the message it relays is, "Look at me, O World!" The war on terror influenced media accounts which, by giving Western audiences the false impression that the issue was not so much one of famine as of terrorism, strove to link relief in certain areas to terrorism. On the other hand, it could be said that Al Jazeera, which was present early on in Somalia or in refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, succeeded in getting the message across. A crew from Al Jazeera, including the former chief of the station, spent their Eid ul-fitr holiday with the refugees rather than with their families. Relief efforts of UN organizations such as UNICEF are noteworthy. Working in sync with local organizations, UNICEF set up centers to vaccinate children and treat mothers and the physically weak. Still, these efforts are stymied by Western donor countries which yoke humanitarian relief to their foreign policies. During her visit to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, Valerie Amos, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, criticized the politics of war on terror that led to the human suffering of women and children. Somalia's neighbors, Ethiopia and Kenya, impact and are impacted by the situation in Somalia. This is due to the fact that some ethnic groups in both countries stem from Somalia, and both countries, especially Kenya which hosts about half a million Somali refugees, have refugee camps for Somalis. Also, both countries claim that the situation in Somalia affects their national security; Ethiopia had in the past intervened, and starting this week (15 October 2011), Kenya is mounting a military intervention in bordering southern Somalia. Both countries have vested interests in Somalia, though Ethiopia has more stakes there. The Somali transitional government currently in place has been installed in a reconciliation conference in Kenya. With regard to famine, Kenya and Ethiopia are equally drought-stricken. They, too, seek international assistance. However, due to widespread corruption, Kenya, being the main depot for most relief aids for southern Somalia and refugees camps in the north east of the country, has negative impact. Corruption, embezzlement, and manipulation of relief aids impact not only Somali famine victims but Kenyans in drought areas as well. This makes delivery of relief aid to those who deserve it less frequent than planned and, consequently, less effective and fruitful. Ethiopian impact on the famine, according to Somali-born American Professor Abdi Ismael Samatar, is felt in the fact that a million of those current famine victims have originally been displaced from their homes following the Ethiopian attack on Somalia in 2006 aiming to topple Islamic courts. Some reports claim that the Ethiopian government stipulated that food supplies distributed to Somalis be bought within its borders which international organizations flatly rejected. The Islamic factor of the famine figured more prominently as a challenge to Western politics in Somalia; the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (known as "the Conqueror" by the people of Mogadishu) defied Western restrictions that had prohibited even junior staff from visiting Mogadishu without authorization from New York. Shortly after came the Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, and only then did some European politicians begin to visit Mogadishu. In an unprecedented bid of generosity, Turkey alone offered more than $200 million out of a total of $350 million pledged by the member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). 4

5 The OIC took a bold step and opened an office in Mogadishu to coordinate humanitarian assistance and at present, there are more than 40 Arab and Islamic organizations involved in humanitarian work; interestingly, none of these faced any security obstacles in the implementation of their programs. Western countries and organizations are increasingly alarmed by this Islamic role which completely disregards Western restrictions on humanitarian work in Somalia. There are hundreds of workers in Arab and Islamic organizations and the number of Turks involved in humanitarian relief work is increasing noticeably; they have even pledged to build the country's infrastructure. No less worthy of mention is the role of Somalis themselves in the relief effort. Mosques, social forums, Somali media, and even schools and universities, all rushed to help by collecting donations and delivered them to victims immediately. By using private moneytransfer agencies and dealing with local organizations and tribal chiefs, donations collected today in a Minnesota mosque are delivered the following day to Baydhabo as though by these simple traditional means Somalis are challenging the advanced world with all its sophisticated and complicated systems. Finally realizing the sluggish bureaucracy of international organizations, Somalis rose to the task of salvaging what they could and, given their limited capacities and expertise, they succeeded to some extent. 5