Arab countries should step up to save lives in Somalia

Imagine a country with the longest coastline in Africa, bordering some of the busiest sea lanes in the world. Imagine this country has very wealthy neighbours just across the water, and a history of commercial links to faraway places as an old Silk Road trading post. If geography is destiny, then this country is fortunate indeed.

Alas, few would consider Somalia fortunate today. Drought-stricken, wracked by nearly 20 years of civil war, in the grip of Al Qaeda-linked extremists in the south and warlords and pirates in other parts of the country, Somalia is considered the epitome of a failed state. And now its 10 million people face the worst famine in 60 years.

When natural disaster and governance disaster intersect, it does little good to focus on how geography or regional aid could come to the rescue.

What matters is the facts on the ground: a vicious cycle of civil war, violence, banditry and warlordism coupled with a debilitating drought that has already killed tens of thousands in the past few months and threatens the lives of nearly one million children.

The United Nations has declared a famine in the southern part of the country, where the Al Qaeda-linked extremists of Al Shabaab (mis)rule.

The UN says nearly half of Somalia's population needs urgent aid. Oxfam reports that more than 30 per cent of children are acutely malnourished. Camps in neighbouring Kenya, run by the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees, are jammed with children on the verge of death, the elderly and desperate people fighting for scraps of food.

The Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, a non-governmental monitoring organisation, reported on July 20 that "this crisis represents the most serious food insecurity situation in the world today, in terms of both scale and severity".

And what does Al Shabaab have to say about all of this? The group claims that the UN is "exaggerating" the crisis for "propaganda" purposes, and has banned some aid groups from operating in their fiefdoms. Militants have even seized some aid shipments intended for the starving.

Somalia is a member of both the OIC and the Arab League, but the Arab grouping has for far too long ignored the plight of Somalia, giving it scant attention compared to the Palestinian occupied territories or Lebanon.

Full story:  http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/arab-countries...

*This is a terrible situation, and a great opportunity for the wealthy members of the league to show some leadership and their ability to take care of their own.