[dehai-news] (Al Jazeera) Have U.S. Counterterrorism Policies Contributed To The Crisis In The Horn Of Africa?

From: Biniam Tekle <biniamt_at_dehai.org_at_dehai.org>
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:16:24 -0500

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/somalia-famine-us-counter-terrorism_n_1119415.html?ref=tw

First Posted: 11/29/11 06:04 PM ET Updated: 11/29/11 06:43 PM ET
Somalia Famine: Have U.S. Counterterrorism Policies Contributed To The
Crisis In The Horn Of Africa?

When Al Jazeera's staff met Ibrahim Aden in Kenya's Dabaab refugee camp, he
had just lost his one-year-old son. Five days earlier, he had buried
another of his sons. A third child, sick and exhausted, was taking shelter
in a nearby tent.

At least 450,000 Somalis have crossed the country's border with Kenya in
recent months, fleeing one of the worst famines East Africa has seen in
decades. For many, help came too late. US officials estimate that more than
29,000 children under the age of fivehave died in the crisis. Tens of
thousands Somalis have been killed, and at least 250,000 people are still
facing the threat of starvation.

In the first episode of its new season, Al Jazeera'sFault Lines traveled to
Somalia to investigate why saving the famine-stricken region has proven so
difficult.

Somalia faces four harsh realities, Fault Lines explains; the most severe
drought Eastern Africa has seen in 60 years; 4 million people facing
starvation; Al Shabaab militants, who control large parts in the south and
center of the country, blocking aid from reaching those in need; and huge
travel distances for those seeking aid. "Access to the crisis is so bad
that the UN says it doesn't know how many people died," Al Jazeera notes.
"But it's certainty in the tens of thousands, most of those children."

Why did the international community fail to see the crisis coming? How are
international regulations on aid distribution affecting the response to the
crisis, and does U.S. counterterrorism policy influence the distribution of
aid in Somalia?

Watch the full first episode of Fault Lines below to learn more.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2011/11/201111271473753430.html

The worst drought in 60 years has thrown some 13 million people across the
Horn of Africa into crisis.

In Somalia, ravaged by two decades of conflict, the consequences have been
disastrous. For over six months, aid agencies on the ground sounded the
alarm that a major drought and famine was on the horizon.

Then in July and August, the world watched and international aid agencies
scrambled as tens of thousands of Somalis fled famine and fighting in the
devastated Southern part of the country, controlled by the armed group
al-Shabab. And they continued to flee - to the Somali capital of Mogadishu,
and refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia - in the following months, when the
world seemed to lose interest.
 In Pictures: Somalia's war and
famine<http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2011/11/201111281431820907.html>

Tens of thousands of Somalis have died and the UN has warned that three
quarters of a million more are at risk of dying before the end of the year.

Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government, the Obama administration,
and the United Nations have all blamed the anti-government group al-Shabab
for restricting international aid operations in the areas they control. But
is al-Shabab the only reason a drought and food crisis has turned into a
deadly famine?

In the first of a two-part series examining the US response to drought and
hunger in the Horn of Africa, *Fault Lines*travels to Mogadishu to meet
refugees who have fled to the most war-ravaged city in the world to escape
a worse fate, and the aid and medical workers struggling to help them. We
examine the legacy of US engagement in Somalia and its efforts to address
the current crisis.

Has aid in this region of the world become politicised? And has
Washington's pre-occupation with terrorism in the Horn of Africa
contributed to the deadly consequences of this disaster?
 <http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/faultlines/> * *

*Fault Lines* can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Monday:
2230; Tuesday: 0930; Wednesday: 0330; Thursday: 1630.

Click here <http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/faultlines/> for
more *Fault
Lines*.



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