United States halts food aid for Somali women and children

[Hannah Bell]

The World Food Programme has closed 12 feeding centres for women and children in Somalia because it has insufficient money to continue. Aid workers have told the BBC that the cuts are the result of US restrictions on aid to areas that are under the control of groups designated as terrorists.

The WFP has less than half the funds it needs for next year. The cuts have been made at the height of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the region in more than a quarter of a century.

Large parts of Somalia fall into the US category of being under “terrorist” control because they are currently run by al Shabab, an Islamic organisation that Washington claims has links to Al Qaeda. According to the United Nations, half of the six million Somali population are in need of food aid. Most of these people live in areas controlled by al Shabaab.

Around 1.5 million people are internally displaced in Somalia as a result of fighting between the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and various insurgent groups. They are living in refugee camps where conditions are rapidly deteriorating. The UN children’s agency UNICEF says that of 250,000 children living in camps, 70,000 under five are likely to die.

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the WFP, one of the few aid agencies left working in Somalia, said, “Getting help to them inevitably involves dealing with al-Shabab and other hardline groups now in control of the towns and villages across the region.”

The WFP was working with the Obama administration to try to overcome these difficulties, she told the BBC. Her diplomatic words mask a growing humanitarian crisis that can be traced back directly to US foreign policy...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/soma-s28.shtml



I guess this is why the Bomb Iran coalition are suddenly posting old stories about girls being stoned as though they were new.

Escalation, baby! Heightening the contradictions, & all that!

[SpiralHawk]

1. Spectres loom

[Hannah Bell]

2. phil? or the ghost of christmas present? more info?

[HamdenRice]

3. Yeah! The US needs to use force to deliver food aid to Somalia!!!

to get it past the armed militias, who otherwise will capture it and hoard it.

Oh wait, I think someone tried that before.

I wonder how popular that strategy would be with the WSWS crowd?

[Hannah Bell]

4. you didn't read the story, did you? the us doesn't deliver the food, ngos do.

they're asking the us to resume the funding.

[HamdenRice]

5. Same circumstances as prior to "Operation Restore Hope," which you seem to be hoping for

The far left and the far right converge with exactly the same views in the grand circle of life.

:rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

6. i have no idea what you're referring to, but the timing of the rolly icon occurs

per my prediction.

you didn't read the story! you just make shit up! who cares what you say or think?

[Hannah Bell]

7. k