UN Warns Somali Crisis Could Rival '92-93 Famine

From Reuters:

NAIROBI, July 15 (Reuters) - The killing and kidnapping of aid workers in Somalia threatens to wreck all attempts to resolve a humanitarian disaster that could soon rival its famine in the early 1990s, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Most aid agencies are discussing suspending their operations in areas hit by mounting insecurity and a wave of assassinations that has targeted senior local humanitarian workers.

Relief is still getting through, but the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said the surge in violence was threatening the entire humanitarian response to the emergency.

"If we or our partners cannot operate on the ground because they are being shot or kidnapped then assistance will not be distributed," WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon told Reuters.

Read more ....

More News On Somalia

Somalia: Attacks on aid workers “intolerable” - top UN official -- Relief Web
UN in fresh protest as aid workers' killing mounts -- AFP
Top Humanitarian Official Gravely Concerned About Somalia -- Voice Of America
Somalia: Insurgents launch six mortars at Ethiopia army base -- Garowe Online
3 Somalia soldiers, 1 insurgent killed in Mogadishu attacks -- Garowe Online
Somalia: Minister, Ethiopian Officers Confer On Current Security - Report -- All Africa
After talks in Yemen, Somalia's opposition alliance mends differences -- Garowe Online
Drought grips a large part of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda -- Canadian Press

My Comment: There has never been a concerted effort by the international community to bring security and peace to the region. Somalia is a text-book example of why safety, security, and the willingness to use military force has to be the first doctrine applied to any area before aid and development agencies can get involved. If the security is not there, aid agencies will just then be pawns for extremist groups and their allies to be used and exploited.

Unfortunately .... since Black Hawk down ..... the international community has given up on Somalia and the possibility of peace in the region for the next few generations.