A report prepared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that 300,000 Somalis face death by starvation and urges immediate action.
The FAO report, prepared in December 2001, notes with alarm that the food situation in Somalia is rapidly deteriorating following a sharply reduced 2001 main season harvest, the lowest in the last seven years, brough about by to drought.
The United Nations report estimates that 800,000 people in Somalia are experiencing food difficulties, with some 300,000 people threatened by starvation and in urgent need of food assistance, mainly in the country’s southern regions.
A number of extraordinary events have aggravated the already dire circumstances caused by prolonged draught. Recent heavy rains in neighboring Ethiopian highlands have caused an overflow of rivers in southern Somalia, displacing large numbers of people and aggravating the already serious food supply situation.
The continuing ban on livestock imports from eastern Africa by countries along the Arabian Peninsula due to Rift Valley fever is causing substantial loss of income, particularly in northern Somalia. The ban imposed in September 2000 is estimated to have cost the country hard currency earnings amounting to US$120 million.
In addition, remittances from Somalis living abroad have been curtailed by the recent closure of the Al-Barakaat money transfer company, suspected by the U.S. of being part of the al-Qaeda network. Until it was shut down, the Al-Barakaat company routinely channeled millions of dollars into the country.
Unless urgent action is taken, the tortured Somali people are set to undergo yet another cataclysm (www.albawaba.com)
