Mar
16
Their Only Hope seems Vague
March 16, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
by Emily Tsang
The worst humanitarian crisis in the world may not be unfolding in Sudan, but along a Mogadishu byway strip to Afgooye according to the United Nations.
The New York Times quote top United Nations officials saying that Somalia is now having the highest malnutrition rates in Africa, yet fewer manpower and food aid than Darfur, where it is lately being publicized as the world’s most pressing crisis and has taken top priority in terms of getting peacekeepers and aid money.
This ‘forgotten Somali emergency’, consists endless conflicts of warlords, religious extremists, suicide bombers which further devastated by the Mother Nature with flood and drought. If Africa is a piece of cursed continent on earth, Somalia is certainly among one of its top misfortune list.
Outsiders face only a few choices in Somalia; none of them particularly appealing. After 1993 where two American Black Hawks were shot down in Mogadishu, the US and much of the rest of the world have basically turned its back on the chaos. The shapeless and lack of representative government has increasing frustrated the UN in talks of unity. “Our only hope lies in the new prime minister taking steps towards peace,” says a Mogadishu resident, Mustafa Aden. ”If he supports peaceful dialogue, I hope things will be sorted out.” BBC Somali affairs analyst Daud Aweis say the administration is now dubiously divided and only strong international backing has enabled it to survive. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, an Ethiopian-supported warlord with U.S backing who turned transitional president, recently forced out the prime minister and is looking for a replacement who can bridge clan divides. A diplomat said this is basically the last chance for Somalis.
However, this happy outcome seems a distant prospect. The notorious transition of government in Somalia is dragging on forever and has long worn out international patience and good will. At the mean time, aids from international organizations are everything that thousands of Somalis are counting on right now. Let’s hope the desperate calls from Somalia has not fallen completely under the shadow of other media attention areas to serve a certain political agendas rather than human lives.
