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| Africa Horn |
| Somalia: Place Humanity Above Political Differences |
| 2008-05-12 |
| It is official; Somalia is in the throes of food crisis that may affect the lives of millions of Somalis. Global crisis caused by rising food and fuel prices, unchecked inflation and droughts have compounded to make the lives of people living in Somalia unbearable. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, states that about 2.6 million Somalis are experiencing severe food shortages and depend on assistance at the moment. This number is expected to increase to more than 3 million by the end of the year. The global food crisis and its subsequent affects have taken everyone by surprise. Since January, the price of rice has risen by 141%, while wheat prices have climbed by 25%. While the reasons for this food crisis are multifaceted, ranging from increased demands by Chinese and Indian populations to droughts experienced by the world’s leading wheat and rice producers, the affects of this crisis have been uniform around the world. Protests against the increasing costs of food have taken place in Haiti, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh. In the case of Haiti, these protests turned violent, claiming the lives of six people and bringing down the government of Prime Minister, Jacques Eduard Alexis. For all intents and purposes, Indonesia, the Philippines and Egypt are developed countries that have higher GDPs compared to Somalia. Yet, the governments of these countries are having difficult time in dealing with these crises. According to Joachim von Braun, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, ‘world agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period.’ So how does Somalia, a country in the midst of an eighteen year old civil war, with no effective government and destroyed infrastructure coupled with a violent insurgency deal with a crisis of this magnitude? The simple answer is that it cannot. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Muslims are incapable of detaching islamic politics from any issue; including starvation. Let them eat jihad. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-05-12 04:38 |