Humanitarian Cases in Africa - Essay Example

? Humanatarian cases in east africa Humanitarian Cases in Africa According to the United Nations, Eastern Africa is experiencing the famine so intense that had never been observed in the last 60 years. According to the report, more than 10 million people are endangered by this “hunger crisis” in those areas of the world including Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. Several different causes may have played a vital role in the stimulation of this famine, most prominent being lack of rain and inability of the Government officials to provide sufficient funds to the agricultural and irrigation schemes of the country. Out of the four countries majorly affected, the most affected one is Somalia, where at least 6 out of 10,000 children are dying everyday due to inadequate amount and poor quality of edible material. (BBC News 2011) The question here rises as to why is Somalia most affected by this nature’sdisaster? According to senior journalists and analysts, Somalia had become a failed state since its establishment collapsed in the earlier 1990s. Adding to the situation, the major areas of the country including Southern, Central and the famine affected areas are under the control of a militant group called “al-Shabab” which is said to have links with “al-Qaeda”. People of Somalia, after two decades of non-stop struggle for their land, were already in astate where they fought for their very existence everyday. And when one thinks that what would be worse than this, the al-Shabab group forces out most of the Western Agencies from the areas under their control in 2009, which were mostly working for the aid of the aboriginals.(BBC News 2011; Ross 2011) A major portion of the people living in countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, are pastoralists and nomads. They are mostly dependent on earning from livestock. But the intensity of the famine is so severe that even their drought-resistant camels also could not bear this famine and died. And their farms will now take many years of rain to recover to their previous state. The famine-hit areas of Somalia mostly receive rain in the month of November and the people who fled the famine are unlikely to return any time soon to plant crops in their fields. A prediction has been made by The Famine Early System Network that thewhole of Somalia is likely to experience a famine in the upcoming months.The area of Lower Shebelle which was considered as the bread-basket of Somalia has also been affected severely by the drought which forced many of the famers and businessmen to find an alternate for their home. (BBC News 2011) It has been reported that some 10,000 people have entered in the city of Mogadishu during the last two months with the plans of aiding the natives by several methods possible. While at the same time, danger and the fear of the al-Shabab group has made it difficult for the aiding agencies to perform their functions effectively. However it has been said that al-Shabab group has been escorted out of this city but still some armed members of this group can be seen patrolling certain areas. (Ross 2011) African pastoralists are among the most famine-vulnerable groups in the modern world. The long-term results of the famine crisis can be great or small, depending, in part, the form of relief. When famine strikes, the first problem which may arise is related to the transportation of food to the affected people. Can ways be found to offer relief to the pastoralists who discourage the formation of camps? For pragmatic reasons, donors or governments must institute food-for-work projects, how well can these involve the affected people in decisions regarding the objectives and beneficiaries of work? Where the traditional political leadership is credible and respected, can relief be administered in a manner which is more sensitive to such structures, even to the point of simply giving the relief food to the elders to distribute in a local fashion? The types of long-term development into which agencies and governments often drift at the end of the famine emergency demand close scrutiny. Development schemes posited on closer involvement in the market and cash economy, and closer ties to national government, maybe indeed planting the future “seeds of famine” for the pastoralists and the ecologically sensitive land which they occupy. (Curry& Hugo 1984) Increasing world population is also causing a stimulatory effect for the famines to occur as the number of consumers is multiplying day by day and the amount of resources is insufficient to fulfill the needs of fast-growing population of the world. Every year worldwide 80 to 100 million people are born; most of them belong to the Third World Countries. Every second five people are born and two die, indicating clearly that the growth-rate of human population on this Earth is quite high. It has been estimated that if the human population keeps on multiplying on the present rate, then after 47 years, the human population will double of what it is at the present time. This is a warning for us because resources are not enough to satisfy the needs of such a large number of human beings. Another important issue regarding the East African famine is the spread of highly infectious diseases such as HIV/Aids, mad cow disease; West Nile virus and SARS due to migration of large number of people from their original places. Many conditions are being cited by the researchers that promote the spread of diseases like HIV and AIDS. These conditions spread due to the process of migration which occurs in these populations. Migration can lead to processes which can break the norms of the society resulting in problems for the people living in the new culture. It would create problems for them such that they would not be able to interact with each other in this new environment. Traditions of different societies differ in accordance to the culture that has been derived in these places. Somalia is one of these places where the traditions differ from many other societies. Practices like sex are not allowed openly and the migrant population might not be aware of these traditions which would therefore cause a conflict in the society. All these conflicts would eventually result in a refugee problem and the spread of disastrous diseases such as HIV/AIDS, mad cow disease and SARS etc. Naturally this will have an impact on public health efforts to deal with the epidemic. (Jacques & Nah 2000) Another important factor of this nature’s disaster is the refugee crisis that is increasing day by day in the famine hit areas. Most affected by this crisis is Kenya, which along with other international agencies should address this matter with seriousness. 1300 refugees are crossing Kenya daily due to the fleeing conflict and the drought by which they have ben hit. On Thursday, the Kenyan Officials announced that the Ifo II camp will open up in the coming 10 days which would be able to accommodate 80,000 people. (Amnesty International News, 2011) According to a research organized by the Amnesty International News researcher in Somalia, opening up of the camp extension will temporarily ease up the traffic of the refugees entering daily in Kenya, there is also a need of opening another camp to accommodate further refugees traffic as soon as possible. The UNHCR has been forcing the Kenyan Officials from the past couple of years to establish the extension camp. But Kenyan government officials had a concern that the members of the armed groups in Somalia like al-Shabab could enter into their territory and create chaos and total insecurity in the land, and so, they stopped work on it earlier in the year. But following a meeting of the Kenyan Prime Minister RailaOdinga with the UNHCR chief Antonio Gueterres, the Kenyan P.M said that Kenya will surely accommodate refugees and will not turn them away on any cost. (Amnesty International News, 2011) References East Africa hunger crisis. BBC News 2011 Top of Form Somali famine: First UNHCR airlift arrives in Mogadishu. Will Ross. BBC News 2011 Currey, Bruce, and Graeme Hugo. Famine As a Geographical Phenomenon. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Pub. Co, 1984. Print. Bottom of Form Top of Form Hsu, Lee-Nah, and Jacques .Guerny. Population Movement, Development and Hiv/aids: Looking Towards the Future. Bangkok: South East Asia HIV & Development Project, 2000. Print. Amnesty International News:Somalia refugee crisis: Kenya’s opening of camp extension only a first step 2011 Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More