With the United Nations declaring a famine in two regions in Somalia this week and the overall food crisis getting worse, the U.N. is appealing for more aid—$300 million dollars in the next two months.
“We are capable of doing more, but we don’t have the resources to do it,” Mark Bowden, U.N. Humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told a press conference.
On July 16, U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced a new 52.25 million pound (US$85.3 million) aid package for people in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Mitchell recently said that other countries “must follow,” otherwise, thousands of children will die in East Africa over the coming months.
Terrorism is another complication, however. The powerful anti-government terrorist group, al-Shabaab, recently allowed its people access to Western humanitarian organizations, after two years of restrictions.
Countries like the United States will not pay taxes or bribes to the al-Shabaab—its influence extends over Somalia.
“Al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought,” said said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan E. Rice at a press briefing on Wednesday.
