Somalia has come on the brink of famine and experiencing its worst drought in a decade. At least 4.5 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian aid in the country. Livestock are dying and the price of essential goods like food and water is spiking. The number of people who have been internally displaced by the drought is said to be increasing at an alarming rate. According to the United Nations, almost 700,000 people have been forced from their homes in search of food and water, and the numbers keep rising. New camps for internally displaced people are being set up, but they are highly inadequate.
The advance countries, meanwhile, continue fighting a war for the last 27 days to decide which among the two power camps is stronger and hegemonic with no signs of relenting. There is humanitarian crisis in Somalia and another in Ukraine. Among the two humanitarian crises, one is a story of helplessness before the nature and the other is about madness of men in power.
The more the West tries to make Russia a villain, the more it is becoming merciless and determined to keep its backyard safer from those who want to encircle it. Nothing justifies Russian violence in Ukraine, but equally at fault are those advanced nations which are happy in snubbing and punishing Russia, covertly and overtly, and deliberately scuttling the scope of arbitration and negotiation to address the reasons which have led to the war.
The natural disaster has left even the animals helpless in Somalia. Animals are dying for want of food and water. There are carcasses of dead goats, donkeys and cattle, scattered on the roadsides in south-western Somalia. There is a severe water shortage across the country and in the shelter camps. This has led to a spike in diseases like cholera, measles and acute diarrhoea. Medical centres are witnessing a sharp increase in admissions of acutely malnourished children.
History would record this irony that after thousands of years of progress of human civilization and unimaginable level of scientific development, while in one part of the world people are dying due to shortage of food, water and medicine, the other part is devoting time and energy in war and war diplomacy. It is a cruel joke on human ingenuity and progress.
It would not make a great difference even if Russia, the invading country in the Ukraine war is isolated or a fresh security agreement between hegemonic contenders (Russia on one side and the US and NATO on the other) is reached. Massive deaths and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has already taken its toll and done irreparable damage to life and hope of the innocent citizens. It doesn’t matter you describe them as “patriots” or Nazis.
Somalia is a poor country and it has lack of resources to meet the crisis caused by drought and famine. Humanitarian agencies have also highlighted that there is a huge funding crisis. They only have 3% of what they say is needed to help the country. Last month, 50 NGOs signed an open letter calling on the international community to step up the response “before it is too late”. “Local humanitarian leaders are saying that they have never seen such a drought and that their biggest concern is an imminent famine if funds are not immediately received.”
Complicating the response to the drought is the political crisis that has gripped the country since February 2021, when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmaajo, postponed elections and forced a law through parliament that would extend his term by two more years. Gun battles erupted in the capital, Mogadishu, prompting talk of civil war as the security forces threatened to break up along clan lines. Farmaajo has since backed down and the elections are now slowly taking place. – so far, the status of around 80% of 275 seats have been settled – but deep political divisions persist, especially between Farmaajo and his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble. The vote has also been hampered by delays.
The Africa Report says the situation is a far cry from the swirl of optimism that greeted Farmaajo’s rise to power in 2017. In that election, lawmakers were chosen by delegates who had been selected by a conference of 14,000 clan leaders. Farmaajo was picked by the new MPs and scored several policy successes early on, such as securing budgetary support from the EU and promises of $5.3bn in debt relief from the IMF and World Bank.
The news portal also adds: Farmaajo has failed to hold Somalia’s first proper election, a key pledge. His initial cancellation of the vote (he cited Covid-19 and Al-Shabaab’s insurgency) was seen as a brazen power grab, and the election is now following the same format as the 2017 one. The final deadline for the election was 15 March, but no date has been set for a vote that was to decide 16 seats in the Gedo region, the part of Jubaland that has been hardest hit by the drought. “He has failed on every level,” said Abdirahman Abdishakur, an opposition politician who is running against Farmaajo for president. “This humanitarian crisis from the drought is a man-made disaster. It is the result not just of failed rains, but a failure in leadership. There was no early warning system in place or any emergency response.”