Hague sees ‘opportunity’ to end Somalia terror

Πηγή: The Gulf Today
By AFP
Feb 4 2012

NAIROBI: Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday there was an “opportunity” to end the crisis in Somalia and tackle terrorism and piracy there, after a landmark visit to the war-torn nation.

“I came away confident that there is an opportunity for the world to help Somalis achieve the better future they deserve,” said Hague, the first British foreign secretary to visit the anarchic nation for two decades.

“Recent political and security gains in Somalia mean there is a historic opportunity to turn a corner in the country and to lay the foundations for greater stability in the long-term.”

Britain considers Somalia a direct threat to its security on fears that British nationals have joined the Al-Qaeda-linked Shehab insurgents who are fighting to topple the weak Western-backed government in Mogadishu.

In recent years, several foreign fighters — some of them Somalis from the diaspora — have joined the hardline Shebab’s ruthless battles to seize control of the country.

Pirates in central and northern Somalia have also plagued shipping and hold British nationals as well as other foreigners hostage for ransom.

“We need more effective action to disrupt the terrorism and piracy which are such a serious threat to international security and the lives of people, including British nationals,” Hague said.

He called for “better co-ordination of international aid” as well as greater support for the 10,000-strong African Union force, which is protecting the embattled government from Shebab attacks.

Troops from neighbouring countries are converging on the Shebab - Kenyan forces in the south, Ethiopia’s army in the south and west, and the AU troops in Mogadishu.

Hague also voiced support for Kenya’s ongoing incursion into southern Somalia after Nairobi sent troops and tanks to attack Shebab positions last October.

“We are very appreciative of the role Kenya has played and recognise how Kenya has been in the front line,” Hague said, after meeting Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

“We have the challenge of working closely together on Somalia... It will be very difficult, it is full of danger.”

Security was tightened in Mogadishu for Hague’s visit on Thursday, which came ahead of a London conference due on Feb.23 aimed at resolving the protracted crises in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.

U.S. intensifies its proxy fight against al-Shabab in Somalia

Ugandan officers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia walk at a defensive machine gun position on a hotel rooftop in Mogadishu. See photos from the war against al-Shabab in East Africa.

Πηγή: Washington Post
By Craig Whitlock

Nov 25 2011

The Obama administration is intensifying its campaign against an al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia by boosting the number of proxy forces in the war-torn country, expanding drone operations and strengthening military partnerships throughout the region.

In many ways, the American role in the long-running conflict in Somalia is shaping up as the opposite of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: relatively inexpensive, with limited or hidden U.S. footprints.

While the White House has embraced the strategy as a model for dealing with failed states or places inherently hostile to an American presence, the indirect approach carries risks. Chief among them is a lack of control over the proxy forces from Uganda, Burundi and Somalia, as well as other regional partners that Washington has courted and financed in recent years.

All told, the United States has spent more than $500 million since 2007 to train and equip East African forces in an attempt to fight terrorism and bring a measure of stability to Somalia.

Kenya, for example, sent thousands of troops into Somalia last month to fight al-Shabab, a militia affiliated with al-Qaeda, despite U.S. concerns that the invasion could backfire and further destabilize a country ravaged by two decades of civil war.

This week, Ethi­o­pia sent its own, smaller force across the border, according to Somalis. The Ethio­pian government has denied these reports but acknowledged thatit is considering a military offensive.­­­­­

These operations are reviving painful memories of an Ethio­pian invasion in 2006 that was backed by U.S. forces and preceded by an extensive CIA operation. In that case, the Ethio­pian army — with some U.S. air support — rolled into Somalia to oust a fundamentalist Muslim movement that had taken over Mogadishu, the capital. But the Ethiopians eventually withdrew after they became bogged down by a Somali insurgency.

“That effort was not universally successful and led, in fact, to the rise of al-Shabab after [Ethiopia] pulled out,” Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters Tuesday.

Al-Shabab, which means “the youth” in Arabic, has imposed a harsh version of Islamic law in parts of Somalia and organized attacks elsewhere in East Africa, including suicide bombings and kidnappings in Uganda and Kenya. While some foreign radicals — including Somali Americans — have joined the group’s ranks, U.S. counterterrorism officials say the movement is divided between those who share al-Qaeda’s global aims and others who want to confine their actions to Somalia.

The Obama administration has not directly criticized Kenya or Ethi­o­pia for entering Somalia, saying it is legitimate for both countries to defend themselves against al-Shabab attacks on their territory. But the administration has urged both to withdraw as soon as possible and instead help expand a 9,000-member African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu that is composed of U.S.-trained troops from Uganda and Burundi.

“We have always been very cautious, prudent, concerned about the neighbors getting involved,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.

Millions in U.S. support

Over the past four years, the State Department has provided $258 million for the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu. The Pentagon is spending $45 million this year alone to train and equip the force with body armor, night-vision equipment, armored bulldozers and small tactical surveillance drones.

In addition, the Pentagon this year has authorized $30 million to upgrade helicopters and small surveillance aircraft for two countries that border Somalia: Djibouti and Kenya.

The subsidies underpin the Obama administration’s strategy of building up regional forces so they can fight al-Shabab directly, while minimizing any visible role for U.S. troops. Mindful of the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” debacle, in which two U.S. military helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and 18 Americans killed, the Obama administration has steadfastly avoided deploying soldiers to Somalia, save for small clandestine missions carried out by Special Operations forces.

Instead, the U.S. military has gradually established a stronger presence around Somalia’s perimeter.

To the north, in Djibouti, a small country on the Horn of Africa, about 3,000 American troops are stationed at Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent U.S. military base on the continent. Many are engaged in civil-affairs and training programs throughout East Africa, but the camp is also home to a fleet of unmanned Predator drones and Special Operations units that conduct Somalia-related missions.

To the south, the U.S. military has a smaller but long-standing presence at Manda Bay, a Kenyan naval base about 50 miles from the Somali border. For several years, Navy SEALs have trained Kenyan patrols on the lookout for Somali pirates.

Other U.S. forces have helped the Kenyan army train a 300-man Ranger Strike Force and a battalion of special operations forces with about 900 personnel, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Even after years of American assistance, the Kenyan armed forces still have much to learn, acknowledged another senior U.S. defense official involved in the training.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to give a frank assessment. “It is tough. It’s time-consuming. But from a relative standpoint, it’s inexpensive.

“I’m not saying, ‘Do things on the cheap.’ But we accomplish two things: We create regional stability, and we don’t have large U.S. deployments.”

Kenya’s mission

Kenya sent about 2,000 troops into southern Somalia last month to attack al-Shabab. Two senior U.S. defense officials said they did not know if any of those Kenyan forces had received U.S training. Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, a Kenyan military spokesman, declined to comment.

Obama administration officials said that they did not encourage Kenya to take military action and that the United States was not involved in the fighting in Somalia. Chirchir said Washington was providing “technical support,” but he would not elaborate. U.S. officials declined to comment.

Roba Sharamo, the head of the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi, said the United States may be sharing satellite imagery and other intelligence with Kenya. “Because of the political sensitivities around Somalia, the U.S. can’t necessarily say, ‘We are involved,’ ” he said.

Meanwhile, the United States has stepped up its aerial surveillance of Somalia. The Air Force is flying Reaper drones from the Seychelles, a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and from a newly expanded civilian airport in Arba Minch, Ethi­o­pia.

The Reapers can be armed with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. U.S. officials have said the Ethiopia-based drones are being used only for surveillance, not airstrikes.

But they have been vague about whether the drones flying from other regional bases are armed. Part of the reason is to sow confusion in the minds of al-Shabab fighters, said Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the head of the U.S. Africa Command. The military has sporadically conducted drone airstrikes in Somalia but without public acknowledgment.

“I like it a lot that al-Shabab doesn’t know where we are, when we’re flying, what we’re doing and specifically not doing,” Ham said in an interview. “That element of doubt in the mind of a terrorist organization is helpful, not just to us but to the Somali people.”

Peacekeepers’ victory

Since 2007, the United States has been the primary backer of the African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu. The contingent is composed entirely of soldiers from Uganda and Burundi, most of whom were trained by U.S. contractors or American military advisers.

The peacekeepers struggled for years to secure a foothold in Somalia but achieved a breakthrough three months ago when they chased al-Shabab fighters out of most of Mogadishu. The African Union force, however, is largely confined to the capital.

Some African countries are pushing for a rapid expansion of the peacekeeping force, more than doubling its size to 20,000 troops, but it’s unclear that the United States is prepared to underwrite such growth.

“I don’t see any increase,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We’re already at a very high level.”

The United States has also been a primary backer of indigenous security forces loyal to Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, contributing $85 million since 2007. Those forces, however, have been plagued by desertion and poor health and are widely seen as ineffective.

Analysts said that no matter how much the Obama administration invests in proxy or Somali security forces, it won’t be able to ease Somalia’s chronic instability without a political solution involving its many clans.

“The political track isn’t there to push back an insurgency,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center. Even if the Kenyan, Ethiopian and African Union troops rolled up military victories against al-Shabab, he predicted, the Islamist movement would eventually return in some form.

“It’s like the tide coming back,” Pham said.

Police link al-Shabab to Nairobi attack

The Mwauras disco was the target of a grenade attack that wounded 14 people on Monday morning

Πηγή: Aljazeera
Oct 24 2011

Police say they are linking grenade attack on nightclub to threats issued against Kenya by Somali armed group.

Kenyan police say they are linking a grenade attack on a Nairobi nightclub to recent threats against Kenya issued by al-Shabab fighters.

The attack, early on Monday at the Mwauras disco in the Kenyan capital, left 14 people injured, according to police.

It followed warnings of attacks by al-Shabab after Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia to hunt down members of the armed group, who are blamed for a series of recent abductions near the Somali border.

"Yes, we are linking the grenade attack to the threats that have been issued by al-Shabab and that is why I am appealing to city residents to be vigilant and co-operate with our officers," Antony Kibuchi, provincial police chief for Nairobi, said.

On Saturday, the US embassy in Nairobi issued a warning over possible attacks, citing "credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and nightclubs."

The wounded were taken to Nairobi's national Kenyatta Hospital. A doctor told Reuters news agency that some were seriously injured but most had light head injuries.

Bernard Momanyi, a journalist in Nairobi, told Al Jazeera that all of those wounded were Kenyan nationals.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia following the abductions of a British tourist, a disabled French woman who has since died in captivity and two Spanish aid workers. Al-Shabab, which denies kidnapping foreigners, has repeatedly warned of bloody retaliation.

Somalia famine just getting worse

Darren Hanniffy in Dadaab, East Kenya.

Πηγή: Irish Echo
BY DARREN HANNIFFY 

SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2011

More than eight weeks after a famine was declared in Somalia, thousands of refugees are still flocking over Somalia’s borders to camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.

I recently returned from Dadaab, a desolate town on the Kenyan border, to where 1,300 Somali men, women and children, many of whom have walked for weeks, continue to arrive every day.

The camps at Dadaab were initially designed to hold 90,000 people.

Since that time, they have been expanded and it is now estimated that there are currently more than 400,000 refugees there.

The sheer numbers of new arrivals each day, and the desperate state that they are in, is creating a major problem for agencies like GOAL. I saw many people walking out of the bush, some having trekked for 20 days to get to their destination.

One can only imagine the torment that they endured. These people are desperately malnourished. They are thirsty as well as starving and rape and robbery is a common part of their journey.

For some, maybe a child or a father had died along the way, and they have continued to walk. Just as we see the corpses of animals along the roads into the camps, we can only assume that the wilderness between Somalia and Dadaab is littered with the bodies of refugees who have failed to make it to the camps. These are the people who will remain unseen, their stories unheard.

Heartbreakingly, even if they do manage to make it, some of the weakest expire shortly after getting to the camps. It’s as though they had expended every ounce of energy to reach us, and when they arrived they didn’t have enough left in reserve to keep them alive.

Our team is seeing more and more burial sites appearing around the camps every day. Meanwhile, those that arrive continue to receive assistance from GOAL.

We have sent in truckloads of aid to cater for more than 10,000 new arrivals, and we are planning to help thousands more in the coming days and weeks.

We are also responding to the plight of refugees in the Somali region of Ethiopia, having provided clean water to 140,000 people and over 90 metric tons of food aid to malnourished Somali women and children since January.

It is difficult for people in Ireland to grasp the size of the camps at Dadaab, and the sheer magnitude of the relief operation facing aid workers.

Food, water, shelter and health care must be provided to a population that is bigger than most cities in Ireland.

The world has been slow to realize how serious this crisis is. What few people seem to appreciate is that what we are witnessing now is just the beginning. It is generally accepted that things will get much worse before they get better.

Darren Hanniffy spent a month at the refugee camps at Dadaab, East Kenya, working as part of a GOAL team responding to the Horn of Africa crisis. GOAL is also working in Ethiopia, where famine refugees continue to pour into camps on the Ethiopia-Somali border.

Contractors Are Accused in Large-Scale Theft of Food Aid in Somalia

Abukar Ibrahim’s daughter Maryam, 5, sipped medicine at a hospital in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

Πηγή: New York Times
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
August 16, 2011

NAIROBI, Kenya — Beyond freelance gunmen, Islamist militants, cholera, malaria, measles and the staggering needs of hundreds of thousands of starving children, aid agencies scrambling to addressSomalia’s famine now may have another problem to reckon with: the wholesale theft of food aid.

As it scales up its operations in Somalia, the United Nations World Food Program is investigating allegations that thousands of sacks of grain and other supplies intended for famine victims have been stolen by unscrupulous businessmen and then sold on the open market for a profit.

“We’re looking into this,” Greg Barrow, a spokesman for the World Food Program, said Tuesday.

He said the World Food Program was first alerted several months ago to the possibility of stolen food aid in the capital, Mogadishu, but added that he did not want to provide specifics, in the event that the allegations were baseless.

Few experienced aid workers believe that all, or even close to all, of the emergency food in Somalia reaches the people it was intended for. Because much of Somalia has been mired in chaos and violence for the past 20 years, large aid organizations tend not to base their own staff members there and instead appoint local groups to monitor aid deliveries, worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Last year, United Nations investigators said that a web of corrupt contractors and their cronies were skimming off as much as half of the food aid, though later internal United Nations investigations did not find evidence to support that. Back in 1991 and 1992, during Somalia’s last famine, warlords and their militias were notorious for commandeering food shipments.

“This is the price of doing business in Somalia,” said one aid official who worked in Somalia in the 1990s but was not authorized by his organization to speak publicly. “You’re always going to have seepage.”

He said that 15 to 20 percent of losses was what “everyone learned to live with in 1991 and 1992” and that aid workers even coined a term to euphemize the theft — “traditional distribution” — because even though the food was getting looted, it still ended up in local markets, having the ancillary effect of reducing overall food prices and making food more affordable for the poor.

One way the United Nations and its local partners are trying to combat the pilfering of food is by serving individual portions of porridge at special centers, as opposed to just handing out sacks of grain. The World Food Program, which has said that it will not cut back on aid deliveries because of the allegations of theft, is also asking contractors to pay them back for any food that was not delivered.

Mark Bowden, the head of United Nations humanitarian operations in Somalia, said the stealing of food aid was a longstanding — and deeply rooted — problem.

“I’m afraid it’s not new,” he said Tuesday. “The war economy means there is a very high dependence on the income that comes from humanitarian aid.”

What is especially troubling, other aid officials say, is that large-scale aid diversions may be happening in Mogadishu, the only part of Somalia that the transitional government controls, though loosely. The Shabab militant group abruptly withdrew from Mogadishu this month, saying it was shifting to guerrilla tactics, which essentially put the capital in government hands for the first time in years.

United Nations officials predict that the famine occurring in several areas of southern Somalia will soon spread, the consequence of one of the worst droughts in 60 years and relentless conflict. They say 3.2 million people need immediate, lifesaving assistance and tens of thousands have already died, most of them children.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled into Kenya, Ethiopia and to camps in Mogadishu, where cholera and measles are preying upon a malnourished and immune-suppressed population. Cases of malaria are also on the rise, as storms hit Mogadishu and the rains pound down.

The transitional government has promised to do whatever it can to help famine victims and denies that large amounts of aid have recently been diverted, as first reported by The Associated Press on Monday.

Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Somalia’s new Harvard-educated prime minister, said in a recent interview that the government was doing “a great job.”

“Were we ready for a drought of this magnitude? No,” he said. “But we acted quickly.”

However, undisciplined — and heavily armed — government soldiers continue to be a problem. This month, government soldiers battled each other to steal emergency food, killing half a dozen people in the middle of a camp for displaced people. A few days later, government troops looted shops in the Bakara market during one of their first days back in the market, which used to be controlled by the Shabab.

Many Somali analysts describe both the government and the Shabab as spent forces, though the Shabab still control most of the lower third of Somalia. The Shabab have forced out many of the biggest Western aid agencies, including the World Food Program, from their territories and blocked starving people from escaping the drought areas.

Mr. Bowden said that donors like the United States had been generous in contributing money for emergency assistance but that there was still a shortfall of half a billion dollars.

Libya: Escalating War to anticipate Palestine's State recognition?

It is logical that the war in Libya should come to an end till 20 September when the UAE will issue the full membership of Palestine into the UN. Otherwise this conflict will become a leverage for pressure as the Arab states that have till now backed the NATO's Unified Protector operation could step back, leak information to the media and so on. This means that in the next 30 days the hardest part of the dirty job of forcing democracy by killing civilians is going to take place intensified. 

This is the pick point of this war as the devisions among the rebels have been recently underlined by the murder of General Abdul Fatah Youni  resulting to the dissolution of their own cabinet. US would not like to let this bargaining chip to the hands of the Arabs in view of the crucial upcoming negotiations on the hottest post in the Middle East. But it remains a big question mark how many innocent civilian's lives will this rushing act of open regime change operation have to take in order to succeed. 

The mainstream media finally accepting the support to Qaddafi's regime report that negotiations are still on the table. While on 8 August the Navy scheduled to hold a commemorative ceremony aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) for the 2,000th Tomahawk cruise missile combat launch on Aug. 5 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. , missiles that cost between $US600,000 and $US1.2 million each, the same time that famine in Somalia has killed more than 29,000 kids in the last 90 days it is clear that the regime change is not a wishful thought for all Libyans. Furthermore it is a sarcastic u-turn the newly negotiations prospect now pushed by the media. It is not one person's war going on in Libya after all they admit. It is a cruel civil war almost impossible to have a happy end...

U.S.: 29,000 Somali kids have died in last 90 days

Πηγή: CBSNEWS
August 4, 2011 8:52 AM

(CBS/AP) NAIROBI, Kenya - A U.S. official says the famine in Somalia has killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5.

The United Nations has said that tens of thousands of people have died in the Horn of Africa's drought and famine, but the U.S. estimate is the first precise death toll offered in the crisis.

Nancy Lindborg, an official with the U.S. government aid arm, told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. estimates that more than 29,000 children under age 5 have died in the last 90 days in southern Somalia.

The U.N. on Wednesday declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones. Out of a population of roughly 7.5 million, the U.N. says 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.

Getting aid to the country has been difficult because al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab controls much of the country's most desperate areas.

Even before Somalia's worst drought in 60 years, many of the country's children have only known strife during their lives.

At a government rehabilitation facility in Mogadishu last week, The Associated Press obtained rare access to former al-Shabab child soldiers, providing a unique view into the workings of the group whose presence in much of Somalia is stymieing international efforts to provide emergency aid.

The former fighters assigned to a drab cement housing bloc are young -- too young. One is only 9, yet they were enforcers of harsh edicts from Islamist militants who are preventing thousands of Somalis from escaping famine.

The hardline militant group routinely recruits young teenagers, kidnapping them from schools and forcibly removing them from homes. Last week three teenage fighters surrendered to the African Union military force during a military offensive.

The most recent arrival at the rehab center, 17-year-old Abshir Mohammed Abdi, said "there was no life, no prospects" inside al-Shabab, which he belonged to for 1½ years before escaping to the camp last week. Abdi is from the country's south -- Kismayo -- where Somalia's famine is hitting hardest.

Abdi said many there are suffering, with al-Shabab fighters trying to stop the flow of refugees toward food, an outflow that threatens to diminish the population from which al-Shabab draws its conscripts and collects its taxes. Al-Shabab has denied a famine is taking place.

"Even with women and children suffering from drought, al-Shabab would stop them, stop them, stop them until they couldn't stop them anymore," Abdi said, suggesting that the wave of famine refugees was too much for the militants to stanch.

Faces of famine

Somalis who have fled the famine zones and reached Mogadishu told AP that militants are threatening refugees who leave the south and often stopping -- and sometimes killing -- the men, leading to a disproportionate number of women and children in displaced-persons camps in the capital. One of the young former fighters, who spoke to AP through an interpreter while standing under a shade tree at the rehabilitation facility, said al-Shabab also uses threats to keep Somali men within the famine zones.

"What they would tell the men is that your women and children would be killed if you leave," said Ali Hassan, who like many of the former teen fighters wore a colorful track suit that looked like it was made by Nike but instead said "Nile Sports."

The two dozen young men, mostly teens, said there were killers among them, though no one dared specify who. One bearded fighter in his 20s suggested that he had carried out beheadings.

What is striking about the former al-Shabab members is how young they are. The youngest at the center is Liban Mohammed, a shy boy of 9. Al-Shabab used him as a spy.

Most children recruited by armed groups in Somalia appear to be between 12 and 18, though some are as young as 8, Amnesty International said in a report last month. Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 is a war crime, the group noted.

"This is a never-ending conflict, where children are experiencing unimaginable horrors on a daily basis," said Amnesty's Michelle Kagari. "They risk becoming a lost generation if the world continues to ignore the war crimes affecting so many of them."

The children, who come from a desperately poor region where government can't function, are lured into joining al-Shabab through the promises of phones and money. Forcible recruitment and kidnapping are common. The government also stands accused of using child soldiers.

One official who is helping watch after the former child soldiers said executions were a part of al-Shabab's recruitment process, in order to instill fear. Many saw their friends die, he said.

"What they were promised was riches, and as the drought kicked in they were given handfuls of rice as payment," said the man, who did not give his name.

(CBS/AP) There are more than 160 former al-Shabab fighters in the government rehabilitation program. Many here say they hope to get an education, though some, knowing little but war during their young lives, profess that they want to join Somalia's military and fight back against al-Shabab.

Hassan said he had fought alongside Arab militants and fighters from Kenya, and that he had seen Omar Hammami, an American al-Shabab leader known as Abu Mansur al-Amriki. Hassan and many of the other teens said al-Shabab treats their youngest soldiers very poorly.

"We don't matter. We're taught how to load and unload a gun. I want a future for myself," Hassan said, explaining why he left.

Al-Shabab is split into about three main factions, the former fighters said. One top leader, often referred to as al-Shabab's No. 2, is Sheik Mukhtar Robow, who is seen by the international community as a more moderate al-Shabab leader, one that aid groups have been able to work with in the past.

A leader like Robow could be a way for aid groups banned from southern Somalia to find a way in to distribute food aid. But one former fighter, 24-year-old Abdullahi Dahir, said aid groups shouldn't trust Robow's word, even if he tells them that they can enter.

The teens seem content at the government-run facility, if not a little bored. There is little for them to do and rehabilitation programs are not yet up to full speed, despite the program being more than six months old.

Government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman said that more than 50 al-Shabab fighters have defected and joined government forces since the drought began. He said the government needs more money to cover the needs of the program.

For the former fighters, once they're in, it is their only way forward. Marked men -- or boys, in many cases -- they must stay in government-controlled territory.

"If I walk out of here I'll be killed," said one former fighter who didn't give his name. "Where can I go?"

Africa famine: world's richest countries guilty of 'wilful neglect'

The world's richest countries are guilty of "wilful neglect" in failing to fund appeals to save millions of Africans from falling into famine, aid agencies said on Wednesday.
Photo: AP

Πηγή: The Telegraph
By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi
5:10PM BST 20 Jul 2011

Aid agencies have taken out full-page advertisements in newspapers and launched appeals on television and radio, as 11 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia face the threat of starvation

Less than a fifth of the £650m urgently needed for the Horn of Africa has been pledged, Oxfam said, with the response from most of Europe "surprisingly slow".

"There has been a catastrophic breakdown of the world's collective responsibility to act," said Fran Equiza, Oxfam's director in the Horn of Africa.
"Several rich governments are guilty of wilful neglect as the aid effort to avert catastrophe in East Africa limps along.

"The warning signs have been seen for months, and the world has been slow to act. By the time the UN calls it a famine it is already a signal of large scale loss of life."
Aid agencies have taken out full-page advertisements in newspapers and launched appeals on television and radio, as 11 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia face the threat of starvation.

In Britain, more than £21m has been donated by private individuals, and the Government has promised £90m in fresh funds for drought relief.

"It is time for the world to help but sadly the response from many countries has been derisory and dangerously inadequate," said Andrew Mitchell, the International Development secretary. "Britain is playing its part, with help for more than two million people across the Horn of Africa. Now others must do the same." European Commission figures show that Britain is already the largest funder of European aid projects to Somalia, pledging £24m in 2011 even before the current crisis hit.

Sweden, the next largest EU donor, gave £11m. Germany has promised £4.3m in new money for the current crisis, and Spain has made what Oxfam called "an initial contribution".

Japan said yesterday that it was donating £3.2m to the appeal. Aside from Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan, no African country has offered any funds.

France was "strong on words", Mr Equiza said, but had not promised any funding at all for the drought appeals.

The US announced a fresh injection of £18m yesterday, to buy food mostly for Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia, and for people in the country's north.

Mark Bowden, the head of the UN's operations in Somalia, said as he announced the first official famine in Africa since Live Aid that "tens of thousands" of people had already died.

"I'm not going to say it's not going to deteriorate further, it will," he said in Nairobi, Kenya's capital and the headquarters of the aid effort across the Horn of Africa.

"Even if the world starts acting as must, now, lives will be lost. But there are many more lives that can be saved if we see the level of response that is desperately needed."

Aid workers point out that weather reports and famine early warning systems operating in Somalia had predicted extreme shortages of food as long ago as January.

"The announcement of a famine across much of east Africa is as tragic as it is predictable," said Jeremy Hulme, chief executive of the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad.

The single biggest factor in tipping people in the Horn of Africa towards famine has been the loss of their livestock, their only source of food, wealth and income.

"It's scandalous that we're seeing this avoidable tragedy unfolding across the region," Mr Hulme added.

"Once again our belated response is a vast operation to feed the starving, having failed to protect their livelihoods."