Sunday, August 28, 2011
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Drought in Somalia intensifies and unfortunately Amnesty International is showing an ineptness to tackle the problem head on. Press TV talks with Dr. Ayo Johnson, Director of Viewpoint Africa who criticizes Amnesty International's reluctance to utilize its full capabilities for the starving people of Somalia amid a worsening situation. This lack of punch has also made it easy for Western governments to blatantly ignore the situation there. Following is a transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Why is Amnesty International not getting further involved in this?
Dr. Ayo Johnson: Well, Amnesty International is an international organization that claims to care about human rights; they care about people and we would expect them to get far more involved than they currently are in the Somali crisis and we would ask them kindly to get more involved and get the message out to international organizations and governments alike to do that much more for Somalia and its people.
Press TV: Where is the US in this situation when you actually need their help?
Dr. Ayo Johnson: Many governments around the world have done the best they can. Some have done half as much as they would otherwise have done.
Countries like the US, Britain, France and others helped previously in the famine of the 1980s, but this time around many of them are cash strapped; many of them do not have the appetite to help and they haven't actually taken this famine very seriously.
But it's one of the worst in sixty years and it defies belief that at a time like this when many Somalia are dying the world is currently sleeping. So it's a crisis in all directions I would say.
Press TV: On a timeline basis - Where do you see Somalia thirty days from now?
Dr. Ayo Johnson: Somalia will be in a far worse situation than it currently is. The drought is intensifying. The people in Somalia are crying out; women and children are dying and the migration of people will continue.
If at all al-Shabab and the government of Somalia - which is very weak - do not resolve their differences, many many thousands perhaps millions of lives will be at stake.
And this would impact directly on neighboring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and a few other countries who are already suffering due to drought.
So, it remains to be seen exactly how they would respond but the Somali people as a whole are suffering immensely.