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Governance Crisis and the Drought in
Somalia By
Rosemary Effiong
Newsdiaryonline Wed Oct 5,2011
Food shortages may be triggered by drought, they are not caused
by drought, but rather by weak or nonexistent agricultural
systems that fail to produce enough food or market opportunities
in good times and break down completely in the bad times. In
other words, a hunger crisis is not solely an act of God. It is
a complex problem of infrastructure, governance, markets and
education.
The area straddling Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya, has
been dubbed the "triangle
of death"
as the worst drought
in more than fifty years grips the area. An estimated thirty
percent of children are malnourished, many arriving in refugee
camps so "emaciated and
with skin lesions so deep that
could be seen on their bones showing in their skulls and
arms." According to testimony by
State Department official Reuben Brigety, acute malnutrition has
reached 50% and 40%, respectively, in Ethiopia and Kenya--far
above the 15% threshold for an international humanitarian
emergency.
Somalia is located on the Horn of Africa, with an estimated
population of between 9 and 10.5 millions. After 17 years and
many attempts to restore governance since the overthrow of Siad
Barre's regime in 1991, Somalia has had puppet government backed
by Ethiopian troops for over three years but it is a weak
government that cannot control the country, because it is
incompete and illegitimate. Over the past 17 years, Somalia has
become divided into clan-based regional entities, leading to
political segregation and the localization of power and
authority. Violent conflict between factions has been widespread
in many regions. Islamic "Sharia" law has been introduced in
certain areas to promote law and order alongside traditional
systems of jurisdiction. The economic and social situations in
Somalia have been negatively affected by the political crisis
and the high incidence of violent conflict.
When the newly independent states of British Somaliland and
Italian Somaliland united to form the Republic of Somalia in
1960, the union impacted heavily on the political status of
clans and lineages (Cornwell, 2004). With dependence on Soviet
support in the late 1960s, Somalia (was ) declared Socialist
bloc. When the US withdrew aid to Ethiopia, the USSR, with Cuban
support, quickly shifted from Somalia and went back to
Ethiopia, with the resulting of hostility and aggression that
increased into the new Cold War in the areas (Cornwell, R.
2004). This was the
background to
the Somali political
disaster because both Western and Eastern blocs have been
playing role in order to achieve their geo-political interest
without giving Somalia to real political, military and financial
aid. With that , Somalia become politically disintegrated and
collapsed in the early 1990s. Since 1991, Somalia, where the
warlords have been in
charge.
Somali people had always engaged in stiff liberation struggle
pioneered by the national heroes such as Imam Ahmed Gurey,
Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, the SYL, SNL leaders and other
liberation movements in defence of their country and religion.
The tyrannical Tigray Regime in Addis-Ababa has always sabotaged
and disrupted all these previous conferences. It was regrettable
that the Tigray regime has had a plenty opportunity to
manipulate the selection and creation of puppet administrations
inside Somalia with hidden agenda to serve Tigray's interest.
Somalis have not been governed by a central government since
1991, which has aggravated a number of the famine's contributing factors
beyond the oft-cited violent conflict and drought. Over the last
year, fuel and food price increases have surpassed 300 percent
in the Somali capital. Regional deforestation has devastated
traditional ecosystems, eliminating trees, grazing land, and
water and rendering the tri-nation area "more or less dry." Much
of the productive farmland has been leased to China, Saudi
Arabia, and India, so desperately needed food has been exported
to foreign markets. Finally, local farmers lack machinery and
fertilizer, leading to low agricultural outputs and the absence
of food reserves to sustain people during droughts or other
shocks.
The famine is, in part, the result of the worst drought to hit
Somalia in 60 years, which has led to poor harvests. But it's
also a side effect of the chaos and instability caused by
conflict between the weak UN-backed government and Islamist al-Shabab
fighters, who have been accused of preventing
humanitarian aid from
reaching the needy. Even before the drought, many people were
forced to abandon the areas where they lived and farmed to
escape the fighting. This led to a drop in food production, and
in turn to a rise in food prices.
There is a serious scarcity of food resources in the famine
affected regions caused by the prolonged drought and by the lack
of peace and security that made the people unable to effectively
engage in their daily livelihoods.
The restrictions put on humanitarian organizations that have
limited their relief operations in the affected regions be it
food, health care services and provision of water and
shelter. The affected areas are also difficult to access, why
the willing Somali NGOs/CSOs for relief purposes are unable to
operate freely in the area.
The active armed conflict in the region has posed high risk to
aid transportation and to aid workers. The lack of any
meaningful communication on humanitarian aid provision, between
the Harakat-Alshabab and the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) has ignited more suspicion, distrust and
hostile confrontations. The lack of experienced local relief
organizations in the famine affected regions and the inability
of the local governance to generate international trust for a
transparent and fair distribution of the food aid
"The
failed government
in Somalia is the primary reason behind the exacerbation of the
natural disaster. The devastating drought was completely
foreseeable and the international community did absolutely
nothing to ward off a fairly predictable amount of damage.
Droughts will arrive bang on schedule every five years or so,
warns Hussein. He is certain that disaster on the scale we are
witnessing today cannot be averted unless prevention is a top
policy priority by the governments of Somalia and the entire
Horn of Africa region. That is not to dismiss the dangers of the
ravages of nature. The sorry reality is that humanitarian
salvage work by the international community -- and in particular
Western powers and the oil-rich Gulf Arab states has started
perilously late."
Ironically, "Somali people desperately need humanitarian help
and in situations of conflict the poorest and most vulnerable
segments of society stand to be worst off."
Unfortunately, this is the case for Somalia, where anarchy,
violence and chaos have taken place for 17 years. Somalia is one
of the nation state building exercises which appears to have
established as a permanent characteristic on the international
scenery.
"An estimated three million people are directly threatened by
famine and starvation in Somalia, and especially in the southern
and central regions of the country. Another million people are
affected in neighbouring countries, primarily Ethiopia and
Kenya," Moe Hussein the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Somalia advisor told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Against such unknowns, though, set one great certainty. The
failed government in Somalia is the primary reason behind the
exacerbation of the natural disaster. The devastating drought
was completely foreseeable and the international community did
absolutely nothing to ward off a fairly predictable amount of
damage. Droughts will arrive bang on schedule every five years
or so, warns Hussein. He is certain that disaster on the scale
we are witnessing today cannot be averted unless prevention is a
top policy priority by the governments of Somalia and the entire
Horn of Africa region. That is not to dismiss the dangers of the
ravages of nature. The sorry reality is that humanitarian
salvage work by the international community -- and in particular
Western powers and the oil-rich Gulf Arab states has started
perilously late.
The two decades long conflict ridden governance crisis in
Somalia has resulted in serious consequences that the world
community cannot ignore. The salient among these include: the
lost peace and stability in a member state of the United
nations; the repeated humanitarian crisis emerging every few
years with significant loss of life and humanitarian investment;
the huge refugee outflow and internally displaced populations
with significant sufferings attached; the regionalization of the
conflict that has mandated the fielding of a high contingent of
peacekeeping forces; the spread of the piracy phenomenon with
its impact on international trade; the unlawful maritime
activities and illegal fishing in the seashores of Somalia and
the hazardous waste dumping in the Somali sea. Moreover, the
Somali nation has been fragmented to political, regional,
religious and tribal factions that have led to the failure of
every effort for peace. These are conditions that will have a
larger regional impact and cannot be ignored by the nationals
and international community.
The consequences of such a policy have been catastrophic in that
it diverted precious funds into militaristic activities. Instead
of focussing on social and economic development and the
strengthening of the civil society organisations and the
institutional framework to create a strong as opposed to a
failed Somali state, billions of dollars were diverted to hound
conflict.
"An estimated three million people are directly threatened by
famine and starvation in Somalia, and especially in the southern
and central regions of the country. Another million people are
affected in neighbouring countries, primarily Ethiopia and
Kenya," Moe Hussein the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Somalia advisor said.
He firmly believes that poor institutional development and the
failed state in Somalia as well as the conflict contributed
directly to the accentuation of the humanitarian catastrophe in
the country. "This is a man-made disaster. Somali officials and
international policymakers have contributed to a crisis that
could have been averted".
People from conflict-ridden and lawless southern and central
Somalia are moving to Somaliland and Puntland in search of food
aid and basic humanitarian assistance. This, however, is proving
to be a terrible strain for the municipal authorities in
Puntland in particular, which is receiving the bulk of the
displaced persons from southern and central Somalia.
"The good governance question in Somalia needs to be seriously
addressed. Bad governance is the major cause of the hindrance of
aid delivery to the worst affected areas ….
rosemaryeffiong@ymail.com
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