Al-Shabab returns Somali victims to famine-hit villages

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15037926

Foreign aid workers are concerned about the fate of thousands of Somalis being taken back to famine-hit villages by Islamist militants.

The al-Shabab group says it is moving people out of camps in the central town of Baidoa ahead of the rainy season so they can prepare to farm.

An al-Shabab official told the BBC that food rations to last a month would be given to the families.

The UN has declared a famine in six regions of Somalia.

[cutlassmama]

1. they're being sent home to die

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2. pretty much. nt

[izquierdista]

3. Could be a good step

"Displacement camps" are no way to go about helping people -- they are just Buchenwalds without the SS guards. Get that many starving people together and they are vulnerable to the first typhus or typhoid or cholera bug that shows up. Getting them back to their villages is a prerequisite for returning to normal. The success of it hinges on being able to distribute additional rations until the harvest comes in.

What if the rainy season doesn't come? What if the crop is a bust? Then more food rations are going to need to be supplied. The logistics of food distribution are better if all the starving are in one place, but that is the only thing. Every thing else is made worse.

Long term, what is needed is to replant the overgrazed deserts of Somalia with appropriate plantings that can support the people and their animals. It could be done in as little as 3 years, IF there was a government that could plan it and carry it out. Parkinsonia raimondoi, which is native to Somalia but threatened due to habitat loss, is a plant that could solve the long term food problem. Other species of the Parkinsonia genus could be introduced to add genetic diversity, selecting for those that do best in the Somali climate. Stands of Parkinsonia in Arizona support a rich diversity of wildlife, and if such stands were established in Somalia, they would provide fodder for grazing animals, flowers for honey production, biomass for firewood, and beans for human consumption.

It would take a decade long program of planting new trees and protecting them from goats until they are large enough to survive the browsings, but Somalia could be returned to a productive grazing area.



Parkinsonia aculeata also known as the Mexican Palo Verde