Drought didn’t cause Somalia's famine

6 August 2011

War did. And food aid may well make it worse

It seems wicked to question charity appeals for starving people in the Horn of Africa. Hunger is a terrible way to go, as I discovered when I once asked a dying Somali near Mogadishu to tell me what he was feeling. He was just passing into that zombie-like state with staring eyes. He said how the first ache was replaced by burning thirst that never leaves you. Marasmus turns children into martian-headed skeletons. Kwashiorkor swells their bellies. Glossy black hair turns reddish. Teeth fall out and ulcers like gunshot wounds eat into the cheeks. Inside, the body cannibalises itself, eating up fat reserves, then muscle proteins. Immune systems crash, diseases pour in and terminal release comes with organ failure.

I am haunted by the people I have seen die in Somalia, and by news pictures of the latest famine, but aid agencies are presenting this crisis misleadingly — as if it were an act of God in the Old Testament. In early July charities were blaming it on the ‘worst drought in 60 years’. They are still calling it the ‘worst drought ever’ when in recent days torrential rains have flooded refugee camps in Mogadishu. The reality is that war caused this famine, not a drought, and the heart of it is in the battlefields of southern Somalia.

In December 2006, Ethiopian forces, financed by US and British money and reinforced by western special forces, invaded southern Somalia and occupied Mogadishu. The objective was to expel Islamists accused of being linked to al-Qa’eda who had seized power six months before in the capital. Under the Islamists, the city was enjoying its first period of relative peace since Somalia collapsed into civil war in 1991.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next page

More articles from: Aidan Hartley | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (9)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Rohit Jain

August 7th, 2011 5:25pm Report this comment

yes, you have got the root point. I am doing a photo essay on somalian refugees in New Delhi, those talked to their friends in Somalia.They have said there is nothing much like a drought.

Kimenyi Waruhiu

August 8th, 2011 8:00am Report this comment

Mr Hartley

Disturbing analysis. How would you consider this would change given the recent expulsion of Al Shabaab from Mogadishu?

Nick Adcock

August 12th, 2011 1:57pm Report this comment

The can be no doubt that Mr Hartley is an expert in the Somalia situation. (See the Zanzibar Chest) What a pity that the mainstream media can't palate this truthful appraisal the crisis and report it more realistically. Not PC enough?

Abdullahi

August 20th, 2011 3:16am Report this comment

Brilliant article, as a fellow hack, and someone from the region, this is one of the finest article I have read about the famine in Somalia.

Abdullahi

August 20th, 2011 3:18am Report this comment

Have a look at this as well http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75768#.Tk3LylhRFao.twitter

Lucy

September 1st, 2011 10:02am Report this comment

Well deserved criticism to those working flat out to save lives.

What's the solution? Pull out all foreign intervention and let thousands die?

Jake Grieves-Cook

September 2nd, 2011 9:11am Report this comment

Another article on how the famine is not caused by drought, on CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/29/kennealy.drought.famine/index.html?iref=allsearch

Maxamed Cali

September 6th, 2011 2:21am Report this comment

The article agrees with what I have been posting on the facebook. It really hits the nail on the head and opens up the reality of the situation that exists in Somalia. Besides, the world has treated Somalia very badly in terms of using as a dumping ground for toxic material to the worest.