200,000 live in despair in one of the world's blind spots

[-Nomadique-]

Almost 200,000 live in despair in one of the world's blind spots

 

Steve Bloomfield

November 24, 2007

 

Displaced children carry plastic cans in search of water

 

 

THE bullet pierced Fartun Ali's right eye and lodged in her brain behind the left eye. The 16-year-old schoolgirl had dreamed of one day becoming a teacher. Now she is left with merely the hope of one day being able to see again.

 

Standing amid a collection of shelters fashioned from twigs, rusting corrugated iron and scraps of plastic, about 20 kilometres west of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, Fartun's mother, Fatuma, surveyed the camp they now call home. "Maybe she should not see how we live right now," she said.

 

Less than a month ago, Fatuma and Fartun were living in Mogadishu. Now, after some of the worst fighting the battle-scarred city has experienced in 16 years, they are living under a tree along the side of the road.

 

In three short weeks, this 15-kilometre stretch of road — a pot-holed, cactus-lined, dirt track that leads west out of Mogadishu — has become home to the largest concentration of displaced people in the world. Almost 200,000 people who have fled the violence in Mogadishu now live in 70 makeshift camps, which have sprung up along the side of the road.

 

Senior United Nations officials in the region now consider Somalia to be the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, surpassing even Darfur in its horror and hopelessness.

 

The rate of severely malnourished children is higher, the daily fighting between government and insurgent forces is fiercer, and the amount of support and interest from the rest of the world is far lower.

 

"If this happened in Darfur, there would be a major outcry," said Eric Laroche, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia. "Since it is in Somalia, no one cares. Somalia is a forgotten emergency."

 

It is an emergency both natural and man-made. Droughts, floods, even a plague of locusts have battered this country of 10 million people perched on the easternmost tip of the Horn of Africa in the past 12 months. But it is Somalia's role in America's "war on terror" that has arguably led to this crisis. With the tacit approval of the US, Ethiopia invaded Somalia on Christmas Day last year. The Union of Islamic Courts, a loose coalition of Islamists, had seized control of Mogadishu and large swathes of the south and central districts.

 

The US believed the Courts were sheltering terror suspects and accused the organisation of being run by an East African cell of al-Qaeda. Ethiopia feared the rise of an Islamist authority on its doorstep — some hardline members of the Courts had called for a "jihad" against its Christian-dominated neighbour.

 

The war lasted a matter of days, as one of Africa's strongest armies overran the Courts' militias. But within weeks, the Courts' hardline military wing, known as al-Shabaab, had re-emerged, launching a deadly Iraq-style insurgency.

 

Within the past two months, Ethiopia has almost doubled the number of troops it has inside Somalia as it struggles to pacify the insurgency.

 

The result has been the worst period of fighting in Somalia's bloody history. More than 5000 civilians have been admitted to Mogadishu's two hospitals this year with war-related injuries. As the battle for Mogadishu has intensified, residents have fled. The UN's refugee agency estimates that 600,000 people have left the capital in the past six months — 200,000 have fled in the last three weeks as the violence has intensified.

 

While Darfur's displaced can rely on the largest humanitarian operation in the world, those lining the road to Afgoye can only sit and wait.

 

Rampant insecurity has made Somalia one of the most difficult places in the world to deliver aid. Roadblocks established by clan militias charge up to $US400 ($A460) per truck.

 

Aid workers have been targeted by both government and insurgent forces. Few international aid agencies are prepared to send foreigners to Somalia — the UN employs just 65 non-Somalis in the south and central districts.

 

Somalia's fragile transitional Government has been criticised for its attitude towards its own civilians.

 

President Abduallahi Yusuf last week used an old Somali proverb to describe the plight of Mogadishu's residents. "When two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers," he said.

 

The attitude of Somalia's Government has not helped matters either. Mogadishu's Mayor, Mohammed Dheere, has accused aid workers of "feeding terrorists" by providing support to those who have fled.

 

"Someone who is severely malnourished is not a terrorist," said Mr Laroche. "Accusing the humanitarian community of feeding the terrorists is an outrage."

 

Steve Bloomfield is the Africa correspondent for The Independent.

 

The Age

[Nephissa]

Originally posted by -Nomadique-:

Displaced children carry plastic cans in search of water

It sickens me to see these kids as young as my nieces and nephews who are still in diapers having nowhere to live, no comforts and no way out. Deprived of even the most basic ie; their rights as children. If I could I'd adopt ALL three Walahi. Ahhhhh! I better stop before I weep all over my keyboard.

 

PS: Fadhiga ka-kaca. Lacago hala diro! Even a buck is something to someone who has nothing. I encourage anyone to do so.

[NGONGE]

^^ Where to though?

 

While Darfur's displaced can rely on the largest humanitarian operation in the world, those lining the road to Afgoye can only sit and wait.

 

Rampant insecurity has made Somalia one of the most difficult places in the world to deliver aid. Roadblocks established by clan militias charge up to $US400 ($A460) per truck.

 

Aid workers have been targeted by both government and insurgent forces. Few international aid agencies are prepared to send foreigners to Somalia — the UN employs just 65 non-Somalis in the south and central districts.

[Seekknowledge]

Try Dr. Hawo's compound there are hundreds of displaced people there including children or SWACRO while international aid paid workers are scared to go there these people are already helping the displaced with the little they get from somalis around the world. Unlike international aid all the money goes to the people cause the somali volunteers don't get paid. If you don't trust them send some money to family and friends and tell them to go and give to these people. Stop the talk and start the action.

 

Nephthys please don't throw bananas on me

[Faarax-Brawn]

 

Cry for Somalia :mad: :mad:

 

Please,If you are in mpls,join us at the convention center. So that we can bring to the world's attention the problems of your country.