The worst-hit countries are in Africa. Stories like this remind me of the scene from Hotel Rwanda where the reporter says: "When people see this, they'll say 'Oh my gosh that's terrible,' and then they'll go on eating their dinners." Christians respond differently, and as in the words spoken to William Wilberforce by William Pitt: "Surely the principles and practice of Christianity lead not to meditation only, but to action." May this weekend's 30 Hour Famine open up our eyes, our hearts, and our hands to those in need.
Somalia humanitarian crisis worsening
June 27, 2008
By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Somalis face mass starvation, with snipers, bombers and kidnappers increasingly targeting aid workers and civilians in the war-torn African nation, aid organization Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday. The group, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, has withdrawn international staff amid the humanitarian crisis because of violence from an Islamist-led insurgency against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies. Violence against civilians has come from all sides, MSF said in a teleconference with reporters in New York. Internal refugees are crammed into unsanitary shelters while prices for rice and corn have tripled since the start of 2008. "Every time we think that it can't get much worse, it does. ... We feel we have reached a new low," said Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of MSF in the United States. "Aid workers are increasingly targeted in Somalia, kidnapped, killed," he said. The Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization estimates 2,136 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the civilian death toll to 8,636 since the insurgency began in early 2007 -- the latest in a cycle of conflict since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. The United Nations says 1 million Somalis -- one-ninth of the population -- are living as internal refugees, and MSF said malnutrition has exceeded emergency rates for a year. "People sell everything they have to buy extra food. Then they drop out the expensive food items that are usually the most nutritious. Finally they start to ration what they do have. And finally they are in the very difficult situation of having to decide which members of the family are expendable," said Greg Elder, the deputy operations manager in Somalia. One MSF nutrition program in Mogadishu is flooded with 3,000 children with an additional 500 arriving every week. "In that center over half of patients are women and children wounded by blasts or gunshot wounds," Elder said. Benoit Leduc, MSF's operations manager in Somalia, said the killing and kidnapping of aid workers have been chilling. "Each time we go in a car we fear we will be caught in a cross fire," Leduc said. "We fear to be hit by a roadside bomb. We fear to be kidnapped. So this is the frustration. We are not able to respond adequately to the needs."
June 27, 2008
By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Somalis face mass starvation, with snipers, bombers and kidnappers increasingly targeting aid workers and civilians in the war-torn African nation, aid organization Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday. The group, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, has withdrawn international staff amid the humanitarian crisis because of violence from an Islamist-led insurgency against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies. Violence against civilians has come from all sides, MSF said in a teleconference with reporters in New York. Internal refugees are crammed into unsanitary shelters while prices for rice and corn have tripled since the start of 2008. "Every time we think that it can't get much worse, it does. ... We feel we have reached a new low," said Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of MSF in the United States. "Aid workers are increasingly targeted in Somalia, kidnapped, killed," he said. The Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization estimates 2,136 civilians have been killed this year, bringing the civilian death toll to 8,636 since the insurgency began in early 2007 -- the latest in a cycle of conflict since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. The United Nations says 1 million Somalis -- one-ninth of the population -- are living as internal refugees, and MSF said malnutrition has exceeded emergency rates for a year. "People sell everything they have to buy extra food. Then they drop out the expensive food items that are usually the most nutritious. Finally they start to ration what they do have. And finally they are in the very difficult situation of having to decide which members of the family are expendable," said Greg Elder, the deputy operations manager in Somalia. One MSF nutrition program in Mogadishu is flooded with 3,000 children with an additional 500 arriving every week. "In that center over half of patients are women and children wounded by blasts or gunshot wounds," Elder said. Benoit Leduc, MSF's operations manager in Somalia, said the killing and kidnapping of aid workers have been chilling. "Each time we go in a car we fear we will be caught in a cross fire," Leduc said. "We fear to be hit by a roadside bomb. We fear to be kidnapped. So this is the frustration. We are not able to respond adequately to the needs."
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