In the general indifference to the situation in Somalia and in the rest of the Horn of Africa becomes more severe, week by week. The UN has added a sixth region, the Bay, in the South of the country, the list of officially declared in a State of famine, which now includes practically the entire southern portion of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu. Is the area controlled by the Islamist militias of al-Shabab, considered close to al-Qaida. Less dramatic, but only a little, the situation in other areas of the country. In the southern part of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, is not yet famine but only "emergency", while in the North, in Somaliland (autonomous region) we are at the level of "crisis".International aid are largely insufficient to cover the needs of the population and there are enormous difficulties in the delivery of aid, due to the lack of a central Government and the chaotic situation in several provinces. So far, the UN agencies and NGOs engaged in humanitarian assistance have collected 1.46 billion, at least a billion less than estimated for an efficacious intervention.
The distribution of aid in internal areas of the zone controlled by Shabab is very difficult. The few convoys that move, traveling with strong armed escorts to avoid attacks by armed gangs and local militia. According to the United Nations, are at least 12 million people exposed to the risk of severe malnutrition because of the worst famine of the last sixty years.
Of these, at least 4 million are in Somalia, and according to the UN Agency for food security analysis (Fsnau), there are at least 750 thousand people in Somalia who could die of hunger in the coming weeks if you don't come more aid. In neighbouring countries, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, feels the effect of lack of rain but the situation is relatively under control. Although in Kenya, in some regions of the North, the effects of drought are amplified by the high price of food and gasoline. Thousands of Somalis, every day, trying to reach, often on foot, the neighbouring countries for aid.
In the refugee camp of Dadaab, Kenya, eighty kilometres from the Somali border, according to Irin, the news agency of the Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, at least 150 thousand people came in the last three months.
Different, however, the case of Eritrea. The dictatorship of Isaias Afworki does not provide official data on the situation in the country, but argues that the crop this year has been particularly abundant and therefore that there is no risk of famine. According to the Bbc, however, the reality is different. At least 900 people are passing every day the militarized border, between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and many of these refugees carry signs of malnutrition. The data collected from weather satellite systems international shows that rainfall from June to now have been below the annual average and Eritrean opposition sources in exile about shortages of food and children maltruniti.
The Eritrean Government in recent years has expelled from the country's main international agencies and does not allow access to foreign Ngos, for which it is very difficult to verify independently what the real situation. The suspicion, though, is that Eritrea is also consuming a humanitarian tragedy, which the Government does not want to know to avoid being put under pressure by the international community. Some opposition sources in eritrea Italy – that prefer not to be identified for reasons of personal safety – confirm that at least in certain regions of the country, towards the border with Ethiopia, the situation is very serious.
Susan Rice, u.s. Ambassador to the UN said that "very probably the Eritreans are suffering for the same food shortages affecting other areas of the region, but do not receive aid for the clear opposition of the Government in the presence of foreign organisations".
Joseph Zarlingo
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