By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Pope Benedict XVI is pleading for help for more than 11.8 million people in the Horn of Africa where tens of thousands have already died as a result of a severe drought, civil wars and ethnic clashes.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the grim scenario is taking place in what is becoming known as a “triangle of hunger” in the Horn of Africa where the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia meet. Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which has been active in the area for decades, says the severity of the drought, coupled with rising food prices has overwhelmed the ability of millions of people in East Africa to cope.
“Rains last fall failed completely,” says CRS Africa Team Leader Brian Gleeson. “And spring rains earlier this year were erratic and weak. As a result, farmers have experienced horrible harvests, and pastoralists are seeing their livestock dying off.”
During his Angelus address at Castel Gandolfo on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI pleaded with the world to pay attention to the unfolding disaster. “We must not be indifferent to the tragedy of the hungry and the thirsty,” he said. “Many brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa are suffering these days from the dramatic consequences of the famine, aggravated by war and the lack of stable institutions.”
Commenting on Sunday’s Bible passage on the miracle of Jesus Christ multiplying loaves and fish, he said: “Jesus reminds us of our responsibility – to do everything we can to help those who are hungry and thirsty.”
Battered by drought, civil war, and clashes between Christians and Muslims, Somalia has been particularly hard hit, with an estimated 10 million people believed to be in need of aid, including 1.25 million children.
Relief agencies such as the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up aid to the worst areas in Somalia, including airlifts into the battle-stricken Mogadishu, but their efforts are being hampered by the combat as well as a ban on some humanitarian agencies by the Islamist group Al-Shabab which controls much of southern Somalia.
According to the Telegraph, the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabab rebels are denying that there is a famine in Somalia and are accusing external enemies of exploiting the crisis.
Speaking on a rebel radio station, Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage claimed that local Muslims are adequately addressing the drought crisis, saying there is no need for assistance from “an outside enemy or non-Muslims.”
He went on to claim that the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are fleeing to the mostly Christian countries of Ethiopia and Kenya are being lured there “so that their faith can be destroyed.”
However, the tragedy is very real and tens of thousands are said to have already died.
L’Osservatore Romano is reporting that there is “a race against time” to save the people of Somalia and encouraged the international community to take a more active mediation role between rival Somali clans.
“If international players do not manage to do this, then even a massive humanitarian effort by UN agencies, including the WFP’s airlift, and by non-governmental organizations will at best slow the emergency,” it said.
Meanwhile, the pope continues to plead with the world to do something to mitigate this crisis.
“It is an immense task. In this time of holiday, let us not forget to open our hands and our hearts to come to the aid of those who need it,” the pope said. “Let us give food and share our bread with the needy.”
Click here to donate to CRS East Africa Drought Emergency Fund
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
Photo is of a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, taken by Laura Sheahen of CRS
