Somalis flee fighting to face starvation
JOWHAR, Somalia (AP) — Tens of thousands of Somalis who fled the violence in their conflict-wracked capital are facing yet another humanitarian crisis — a debilitating food shortage after poor rains.
ON DEADLINE: 'Worst humanitarian crisis' in Africa
Seven months ago, Dahir Abdi Hassan, 19, fled from the near-daily violence in Mogadishu with five of his family members, including his parents.
In Mogadishu, Hassan's family ate two meals a day. Now, in this southern Somalia agricultural town of Jowhar, they make do with one meal a day as they live with a relative who also has to fend for his 10 children.
"I'm not comfortable with that but what I can do? There is no work and it is too dangerous to go back," to Mogadishu, Hassan said Wednesday.
Peter Goossens, the World Food Program's Somalia country director, said the country is facing serious challenges such as floods, drought, malnutrition, war and rising inflation, which means many Somalis cannot cope with the food shortages.
"We can't really improve their life," Goossens said as hundreds of Somalis lined up to receive his agency's corn, beans and oil in an open center in Jowhar for people made homeless by the violence in Mogadishu. "All we can really do is to stop them from falling off the edge."
Most of those in line were women, some with babies strapped to their backs.
Already, 1.5 million of Somalia's estimated 7 million people need food aid. Nearly 300,000 are at risk of starvation, aid workers say.
The hunger is at its most acute in the southern Somalia region of Shabelle that has served as the country's breadbasket. Poor rains have yielded the worst harvest in 13 years, and an influx of 80,000 people fleeing Mogadishu has pushed up food prices beyond the reach of many locals. The influx has tested the goodwill of Jowhar residents, as relatives swarmed their homes.
Guro Mogow, a mother of four, said she walked more than 50 miles to Jowhar from Mogadishu to escape the violence. Like many others, she now stays with relatives in Jowhar.
"Before, they were not rich. But now they have to reduce the size of the meal they take because of us," said Mogow, as her 18-year-old daughter helped her load a sack of corn onto a waiting donkey cart.
Hundreds of thousands have left Mogadishu since December. They have been fleeing violence in the capital between Somali soldiers, their Ethiopian allies and insurgents believed to be remnants of a radical Islamic group called the Council of Islamic Courts that controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months.
The Ethiopian troops routed the Islamic fighters in December and the Islamic fighters vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency. Thousands of Somalis have died in the fighting this year.
In the latest violence in Mogadishu, on Wednesday, an Associated Press reporter saw the body of a civilian with gunshot wounds in the city's Bakara market and a Mogadishu resident, Muse Mohamed, saw two men armed with pistols and hand grenades kill another civilian.
CORRUPTION: Somalia ranks high on list
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, pulling the Horn of Africa nation into years of violence and anarchy.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JOWHAR, Somalia (AP) — Tens of thousands of Somalis who fled the violence in their conflict-wracked capital are facing yet another humanitarian crisis — a debilitating food shortage after poor rains.
ON DEADLINE: 'Worst humanitarian crisis' in Africa
Seven months ago, Dahir Abdi Hassan, 19, fled from the near-daily violence in Mogadishu with five of his family members, including his parents.
In Mogadishu, Hassan's family ate two meals a day. Now, in this southern Somalia agricultural town of Jowhar, they make do with one meal a day as they live with a relative who also has to fend for his 10 children.
"I'm not comfortable with that but what I can do? There is no work and it is too dangerous to go back," to Mogadishu, Hassan said Wednesday.
Peter Goossens, the World Food Program's Somalia country director, said the country is facing serious challenges such as floods, drought, malnutrition, war and rising inflation, which means many Somalis cannot cope with the food shortages.
"We can't really improve their life," Goossens said as hundreds of Somalis lined up to receive his agency's corn, beans and oil in an open center in Jowhar for people made homeless by the violence in Mogadishu. "All we can really do is to stop them from falling off the edge."
Most of those in line were women, some with babies strapped to their backs.
Already, 1.5 million of Somalia's estimated 7 million people need food aid. Nearly 300,000 are at risk of starvation, aid workers say.
The hunger is at its most acute in the southern Somalia region of Shabelle that has served as the country's breadbasket. Poor rains have yielded the worst harvest in 13 years, and an influx of 80,000 people fleeing Mogadishu has pushed up food prices beyond the reach of many locals. The influx has tested the goodwill of Jowhar residents, as relatives swarmed their homes.
Guro Mogow, a mother of four, said she walked more than 50 miles to Jowhar from Mogadishu to escape the violence. Like many others, she now stays with relatives in Jowhar.
"Before, they were not rich. But now they have to reduce the size of the meal they take because of us," said Mogow, as her 18-year-old daughter helped her load a sack of corn onto a waiting donkey cart.
Hundreds of thousands have left Mogadishu since December. They have been fleeing violence in the capital between Somali soldiers, their Ethiopian allies and insurgents believed to be remnants of a radical Islamic group called the Council of Islamic Courts that controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months.
The Ethiopian troops routed the Islamic fighters in December and the Islamic fighters vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency. Thousands of Somalis have died in the fighting this year.
In the latest violence in Mogadishu, on Wednesday, an Associated Press reporter saw the body of a civilian with gunshot wounds in the city's Bakara market and a Mogadishu resident, Muse Mohamed, saw two men armed with pistols and hand grenades kill another civilian.
CORRUPTION: Somalia ranks high on list
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, pulling the Horn of Africa nation into years of violence and anarchy.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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