EDITORIAL
The tragedy of the famine in Somalia becomes more heart-rending each day.
It’s hard to get food into the country because of the malevolent influence of the terrorist group Al Shabab, which controls an area where 450,000 starving Somalis live. On top of the threat of violence, when aid agencies are finally able to get supplies in, most are being stolen and sold at exhorbitant prices by vendors at food markets. Aid organizations are justifiably reluctant to donate when their supplies are being diverted and a civil war continues in the country.
The United Nation’s World Food Program is investigating the problem of stolen food. But officials say despite criminal involvement in food distribution, the shipments must go on. It is the right thing for charitable organizations continue their efforts, despite the setbacks. Millions will die otherwise. The United States says 29,000 Somali children under the age of 5 have already starved to death.
“While helping starving people, you are also feeding the power groups that make a business out of the disaster,” sadly allows Joakim Gundel, who heads a consulting company that is evaluating international aid efforts in Somalia.
It is a desperately tough situation, one not easily solved. But the famine is so intense that a suspension of help would do even more harm. One has to only look at the skeletal bodies of children roaming through the Bakara marketplace, the desperate looks of their parents, to understand the severity of the problem.
Whatever food can get through at this time will be of enormous help. The effort to keep it safe from the hands of thieves is dangerous and may take time to solve but it must be done. The UN is valiantly trying, and so must other aid agencies.
Toronto Star Editorial