Thursday, August 4, 2011

Famine's devastation: 4 dead children, 1 family. 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone, according to Nancy Lindborg U.S Government Official.ICRC set to scales up emergency operations in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Kaltum Mohamed sits beside a small mound of earth, alone with her thoughts. It is her child's grave — and there are three others like it.Just three weeks ago, Mohamed was the mother of five young children. But the famine that has rocked Somalia has claimed the lives of four of them. Only a daughter remains. The others starved to death before Mohamed's eyes as she and her husband trekked to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in search of aid.Thousands of parents are grieving in Somalia and in refugee camps in neighboring countries amid Somalia's worst drought in 60 years.The drought and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone, according to U.S. estimates. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, suggesting the death toll of small children will rise.Mohamed and her husband tried to get their children from Somalia's parched south to the capital, Mogadishu, in time to receive emergency aid from the few humanitarian organizations that are operating there. They began their journey in the Lower Shabelle region, where the U.N. declared famine July 20. AP Television News found her that day looking after her severely malnourished children, cradling them in her arms.Her family belongs to a tribe of pastoral nomads, but all of their livestock died in the drought. When her children fell ill, she took them to a hospital in the Lower Shabelle but couldn't afford the treatment they needed. Most aid is not getting to the south where it's desperately needed. An al-Qaida allied group, al-Shabab, controls much of southern Somalia and insists that there is no famine. It has banned all aid groups but the International Committee of the Red Cross.The family's journey to the capital, one being made by thousands of other Somalis, came too late. Four of Mohamed's children died en route because of severe malnutrition and related complications."Death is inevitable," Mohamed told AP Television News on Thursday in a makeshift camp near Mogadishu's airport, home to hundreds of other displaced people. "But the surprise was how suddenly I lost my four children in less than 24 hours because of famine."Instead of being able to caress her children, she crouched next to one of their graves and softly patted and smoothed the mound of earth covering it. She wept, then wiped away her tears. She still has a daughter to try to feed.The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is under way, and the family is fasting daily. Without food, though, Mohamed doesn't know how they can break their fast at sundown. The international community must do more to help, she said.Meanwhile, famine still stalks her.On Wednesday, the U.N. declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones — including the camps for displaced persons in Mogadishu. These are areas where the highest rates of malnutrition and mortality are taking place.Nancy Lindborg, an official with the U.S. government aid arm, told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. estimates that more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in the past 90 days. That number is based on nutrition and mortality surveys verified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.A U.S. official noted Thursday that the U.S. said this week it would not prosecute legitimate aid groups trying to assist Somalis suffering from famine in areas under al-Shabab control. Such prosecution would have been possible under U.S. anti-terrorism laws, but getting groups to go into a part of Somalia controlled by a brutal, hardline Islamist insurgency is another matter.The official, Jon Brause of USAID, told journalists in Nairobi, Kenya, that there hasn't been a dramatic increase in assistance flowing to Somalia after the announcement because it's so difficult to access al-Shabab-controlled territory.No U.S. law specifically prevents aid to southern and central Somalia, where the U.N. food agency says it cannot reach 2.2 million Somalis in areas under al-Shabab's control. But bribes, tolls and other typical of costs of doing business in the largely lawless and chaotic country could have been punishable after the State Department declared al-Shabab a terrorist organization in 2008."We understand that some assistance may accidentally reach al-Shabab and we are reassuring people they will not suffer prosecution if that happens," said Bruce Wharton, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs.Wharton signaled that the U.S. believes some inside al-Shabab might be more amenable to letting aid in than others."We do not believe al-Shabab is a monolithic organization," he said. "There are degrees of Shabab-ness, if you will, and we think it's important to find ways to get food to people, including people who are in al-Shabab controlled territories."

via Abdirahman Warsame
terror free somalia pics


ICRC set to scales up emergency operations in Somalia
The International Committee of the Red Cross is scaling up emergency operations in central and southern Somalia to assist an additional 1.1 million drought-and famine-struck people.ICRC chief Jakob Kellenberger said drought situation in Somalia is becoming ever more desperate with hundreds of thousands of Somalis facing life-threatening food and water shortages.Kellenberger said the need for aid cannot be overstated in the central and southern parts of the country especially, where only a small number of humanitarian organisations are present on the ground.The ICRC is also asking donors for an extra 67 million Swiss francs ($86 million) in 2011 emergency operation to help 1.1 million people in the famine-stricken country.ICRC says this would enable the organisation expand its therapeutic feeding programmes and its food distributions to help people get by during the extremely difficult period until the next harvest in December.
The ICRC is active in all provinces of central and southern Somalia and able to carry out large-scale distribution

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Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

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