Somalia Famine: UK Government Says Up To 400,000 Children Could Die Without More Aid

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A British government minister says up to 400,000 Somali children could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday made the first visit in 18 years by a British minister to Somalia's capital of Mogadishu, where he met with government leaders and aid groups.

Mitchell said in neighboring Kenya that Britain will give UNICEF more than $41 million in additional aid. That will allow nearly 200,000 people to have two months of supplementary food rations and vaccinations against measles for 800,000 children.

More than 12 million people need food aid in drought-struck East Africa. More than 2 million live in areas controlled by the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Comments

[foresure]

12:49 AM on 08/19/2011

I absolutely agree that the world must save 400,000 from starving.

BUT, it is also necessary that when these 400,000 grow up and have families, they have the means to limit the size of their families.

Otherwise, many of us will live long enough to read about 800,000 starving.

[rotorhead1871]

11:43 PM on 08/18/2011

and the UK gov is the paragon of the truth??

[Leonard Baudoin]

09:45 PM on 08/18/2011

WHAT KIND OF WORLD WE LIVE IN? HOW CAN WE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?STOP THE WARS>>>>>>> A REAL WAR FOR HUMANITARIAN IS IN AFRICA. START BY SAVING THIS COUNTRY----- THIS IS A REAL WAR!!!!!! BOE TUNDRA47

[Ergon]

09:30 PM on 08/18/2011

You attacked Somalia in 1993. That didn't work. You encouraged Ethiopia to invade Somalia afterwards, and that didn't work. Somalian pirates intercepted a ship with tanks being sent to Ethiopia. European factory ships overfish Somalian waters and dump toxic waste. So, the starvation MUST be the fault of the Somalis!

[rysagr]

11:41 PM on 08/18/2011

fail

[Ergon]

04:45 PM on 08/19/2011

I doubt you ever graded student papers, so your knowledge of the term must come from your own experience?

[Derni]

02:13 PM on 08/18/2011

This has been and continues to be a terrible situation that has been ignored by the USA and other countries..we continue to allow the rulers in these areas to control the money and food and it never gets where it should. I guess we can't send in the military to help 400,000 since there's no oil or minerals to take home after the battle,,very sad commentary on all modern countries and their lack of ..but then, we can't even provide food and medical care in the USA so..what can we do?..

[rysagr]

11:42 PM on 08/18/2011

allow?

[Mr Board]

09:41 AM on 08/19/2011

Ignored by the USA? That's a slap in the face. We've given and given out of the generosity of our hearts in a compassionate effort to send Aid to Dozens of countries around the world. We've given food, monetary and military aid at the cost of our Own precious children.

Do you think we have the resources to put a choke collar on every vicious dictator out there? You are grossly misinformed and maligned in your deprecation of the USA.

SO we should sacrifice the lives of our children and grandchildren so these people can breed in a place without ample food and water? Are you ready to sacrifice yourself for their sake? I don't think so because you don't want to give up all the luxuries you have. What you want to do is give people the impression that you really care about these people by declaring that Someone else go over there and do something about it.

[snowzzy3]

12:57 PM on 08/18/2011

I dont understand the UNICEF math, they come to our place of employment and tell us 1 dollar supplys 100 lbs of food. I personally live off of 50.00 per month for food. So even if they will feed 200,000 people at 50 a month for two months that is only 2 million dollars. We can go get a shot for 10 dollars at a health center that is 8 million dollars what is going on with the other 31 million dollars?

[Mr Board]

09:47 AM on 08/19/2011

The food that is doled out to impoverished countries consists mainly of rice and other rations designed specifically for sustenance and they eat the same thing every day. There is no Menu from which to choose, no special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle on a sesame seed bun. There is no steak, hot dogs, hamburgers or pizza. My dogs eat better than those people and that is the sad reality of all the Aid.

[mrsvonii]

11:39 AM on 08/18/2011

Until the countries of the Horn of Africa have stable governments, starvation, torture, rape and murder will continue to rule. Much aid has been sent for many years and yet most never makes it to the needy children and innocent victims. I fear the only road to success is "nation building" and I think the US is already having enough trouble with that elsewhere.

[miltonc4l]

11:25 AM on 08/18/2011

Is the starvation of a child ten years from now a morally superior outcome to the starvation of a child today? This is an EXACT replay of what was happening back in the early 1990s. Other countries send in food aid to save the starving children. Now, 20 years later, those starving children are now starving adults and have reproduced in sufficient numbers to doom yet another generation of children to suffering and starvation. Rinse and repeat.

Western intervention in Africa, even when well intentioned, only leads to greater human suffering.

[I doubt]

05:35 PM on 08/18/2011

I agree , but I'd suggest that the problem isn't THAT we're intervening, but HOW we're intervening. The aid orgs haven't evolved. They use the same techniques that they've been using for 50 years, despite the lack of measurable poverty reduction. Good grief, we're still sponsoring children despite the fact that it doesn't work.

But there are exceptions, they just don't get the limelight because they aren't doing flashy projects. Acumen Fund and Engineers Without Borders Canada are a couple of examples.

Their approach isn't charity - it's offering support, insight and expertise to local leaders who - through their own success - have the opportunity to create wide-spread change. The help locals (businesses, communities, civil servants) design, test and implement solutions that meet local requirements (not dreamt up in a NY board room). Then get the heck out. It ensures that the solution IS local, and that it's not dependent upon aid to last.

They're willing to fail, learn and improve their approach until they get something that works, and they're focused on systemic change that has a lasting impact (aka. it doesn't just look good in a press release or on a website).

Basically, what was done 20 years ago was a band aid, not a solution. But that doesn't mean all aid is condemned to failure. It means that we need to find the rare gems in the non-profit world, and support them because their work is actually reducing poverty by strengthening local systems from the bottom

[Elrancho2]

11:20 AM on 08/18/2011

And WE think WE have problems.

[mustardhead98]

09:50 AM on 08/18/2011

This is a way worse famine than happened in the '80's. Seeing the huge amount of food waste here in North America and then seeing the complete opposite in another part of the world how can one NOT do something to help with this immediate crisis. Most of us can afford even a couple of dollars and I know many are saying alot of food isn't getting in but there are some good organizations like UNICEF you can be assured will get the aid through to those most in need.

That said, once this crisis is over, it will happen again if measures aren't taken. THAT's where the real work needs to be done.

[jeffhintx]

09:39 AM on 08/18/2011

Okay, I'm being beaten over the head (figuratively speaking) by bleeding hearts who tell me that our own American people have never experienced poverty on this level.

This is true, I grant them that. I grant them EVERYTHING.

A new study however, finds that child poverty in the U.S. has grown by 18 percent over the past decade. The U.S. currently has 20 percent of its children in poverty, totaling 15 million kids.

When should we finally act to stop our own slide into poverty? When we reach FORTY percent?
Fifty percent? How about 90 percent? When ninety percent of our kids live in poverty, do we THEN get to turn out attention to saving our own country or do we continue ignoring it until we are so completely burnt out from grinding poverty here at home that there is nothing left?

Great! Then we too can join Somalia, that country which loves us soooo much, and we get to be just like them, a libertarian paradise with no functioning central government and no taxes either!

I can't wait! Let's save a few more countries who hate our guts so that their kids can grow up and launch fresh attacks on us!

[advocatusdiaboli]

08:40 AM on 08/18/2011

Even if aid gets in, the warlords will take it. Little will reach the intended persons. The Third Word is corrupt, most aid to Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan goes to the local powers not the people who need it. All you are doing is future cementing the hold on power of the warlords who caused this in the beginning. Plus you are ensuring more future pirates group to grab ships in international waters. the answer to overpopulation is not food because that just perpetuates the cycle of over-reporduction and famine. The answer is constraints on reproduction along with an aid, medical or food.

[mhtowe64]

07:53 AM on 08/18/2011

Everyone complaining on here saying the government isn't doing anything need to read up more on this. Food is being blocked from coming in!!

Americans like to read about a tragedy and bash everyone for not helping. Research people

[Trogenhorse]

07:36 AM on 08/18/2011

I see so many negative posts. Please remember, there food is being blocked from coming in.

[zenju2]

06:35 AM on 08/18/2011

Wonder if the ISM and the other 'aid flotilla' activists will find the GENUINE humanitarian crisis in Somalia trendy enough to merit some 'aid flotillas.'