U.N. Appeals for Aid to Help Somalia

By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 21, 11:41 AM ET
Link

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United Nations appealed Tuesday for nearly $327 million in aid to help starving people in southern Somalia, which is suffering its worst drought in a decade.

About 2.1 million people are coping with severe food shortages caused by prolonged drought, war, displacement, flooding and human rights abuses, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"This current drought is unprecedented in 10 years, and the impact it is having on food, water, health, education and livelihoods is alarming," said Christian Balslev-Olesen, the world body's acting humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.

"With a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, the humanitarian community needs to scale up its current response exponentially."

Somalia has not had an effective central government since opposition leaders ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, carving the nation into a patchwork of clan-based fiefdoms.

Since then, persistent local conflicts have eroded Somali livelihoods. Infant, child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. Medicines also are needed to prevent a measles outbreak and curb the spread of polio in the region, Balslev-Olesen said.

"This is a race against the clock to stem the tide of human misery," he said.

The drought has tipped the balance in the highly impoverished border areas where Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya meet. Those areas include Gedo, Middle and Lower Juba, and parts of Bay and Bakool, the world body said.

The United Nations says more than 11.5 million people will require food assistance in the next six months. Somalia's Transitional Federal Government needs to do more to ensure security so aid organizations can operate effectively, Balslev-Olesen said.

The United Nations also said it needed $225 million to feed 3.5 million Kenyans over the next year, but it so far has received only about $75 million.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Tuesday that 5 million Kenyans are facing food shortages — well above the 3.5 million cited by the United Nations.

He said the country has spent $72 million from its own treasury and from international donors to feed the starving, but another $87.1 million was needed to meet needs through June.

The European Commission on Monday donated about $6 million to help provide food aid to Kenya.




Survey says?

Not just no.......but HELL no!  






Duh!!!

There is no helping them.

Quoted: There is no helping them.

Been there, done that...........NEXT!

Blackhawk Down Redux?

I am sorry... but if there were a US drought, I'd hope others would show some compassion.

Quoted: I am sorry... but if there were a US drought, I'd hope others would show some compassion.

you mean like all the BILLIONS in foreign aid that came in after Katrina?

Build a giant catapult, and fling money at them, that will surely solve all problems (for a nominal UN fee of course).

only if is the 5.56 and 7.62 kind

If we would just let most of them starve we would not have to waste money on them year after year.  Nature has a way of coming into balance.

Quoted: I am sorry... but if there were a US drought, I'd hope others would show some compassion.

...and I'd hope that we wouldn't drag their corpses through the streets in return for their compassion.

tough shit.  we tried to help those backwards fuckheads before and it cost us bigtime.

let those fuckers die

there was a mugging near here ( it was in Minneapolis ) the other night.

a mother and son walking in the park late at night, gunmen approach, demand her purse. she hands it to them. before running away, they shot the son in the head.

the descriptions of the suspects; males, possibly Somalian.

as if Black Hawk Down wasnt enough to make me dislike the people.

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting a different result, helping the Somalis would be insanity. They can all go straight to hell, they are a bunch of savages.

Yeah right.

Does this count as aid??

looking at the poll results, who are the two trolls?

Quoted: I am sorry... but if there were a US drought, I'd hope others would show some compassion.

Unless we attacked those bringing us such aid and dragged their people through our streets.

Not just NO, not just HELL NO but we are officially at FUCK THEM.

Yeah, cause we have nothing better to throw more money at...not like they would deserve it after what happened the last time around anyway

WIZZO

Dear Somalia,

We are happy to report that we have received your request for foreign aid.  In order to complete your request, we will need the following information:

1.  A copy of your plan at establishing a government so that the aid we send will not be stolen in order to starve another warring faction.

2.  Your apology.

3.  A suitable date for you to kiss our ass.


Warm regards,
The USA

Nothing demonstrates the hopelessness of Africa like the Blackhawk Down battle.  We came there to help those people, and they attacked us.  Africa's beyond help, beyond hope.

Feed those who cannot feed themselves?  Fuck that!  Plague and famine are god's ways of thinning a herd that can't sustain itself.  I'm a heartless prick, sue me.

Quoted: Blackhawk Down Redux?

+1...But only if Ridley Scott returns as director...

Anyone read the links under the article? like this fine piece of journalism: Is Somalia a Model? - www.antiwar.com/bock/b042903.html

May the famine be strong and cleanse that part of the earth from its inhabitants.

Fuck 'em.

I belive the US reply should be "We gave at the office."  

I think Somolia would be way better off without UN "help."

I remember reading about a year back about how things were going in Somolia present day, and how it has broken up into smaller unrecognized defacto nations.

One of the more stable factions to emerge had no UN "assistance," while one of the factions that had UN help was worse off and generally fighting against all the other factions. The UN is actually making things worse.

I say we leave Somolia alone and see what an Anarcho-Capitalist state can do for itself.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalist#Modern_Somalia

Quoted: Nothing demonstrates the hopelessness of Africa like the Blackhawk Down battle.  We came there to help those people, and they attacked us.  Africa's beyond help, beyond hope.

But the cool part is if you just stay the fuck out of there the problem will mostly fix itself.

If by "aid" they mean bombs, then i'm all for it.  We still owe the somalis a little something...

Quoted: Fuck 'em.

I agree, they made there bed, sleep in it, not one of them was worth the life of one our guys.

The UN needs to petition Allah for help. Somalia is under his care...

I left a big ol piece of Somalian aid in the commode this morning . It was the least I could do -I had a big breakfast.

HELL NO

Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

Even if you might want to help someone out... Sometimes you just need to take care of yourself.  Now is that time.

why don't they get a half an idea instead and MOVE!!! much of somalia has been immersed in famine for years. if they can't figure out that they can't grow food there, i really don't think they'll know what to do with any type of "assistance" we might provide.

Sam Kinison said it best.

This is sand................. you cant eat fucking sand!  Why dont you fucking move to where the food is?

That says it all.  Nature does bring back balance.  If we do nothing next year there will be less of a problem.

Quoted: Sam Kinison said it best. This is sand................. you cant eat fucking sand!  Why dont you fucking move to where the food is? That says it all.  Nature does bring back balance.  If we do nothing next year there will be less of a problem.

+1


oh and.......
FUCK THE UN AND SOMALIA!

Fuck em, let 'em all die.....

Ungreatful fucks....

Let's trade humanitarian aid for AK-47's, we need 1 for each NRA member.

Quoted: Build a man a fire and you warm for a day. Set him on fire and you warm him for the rest of his life! "Humanitarian Aid" for Afrika...what a scam! Fcuk the UN and Somolia!

MOD, circa what... 1986??

"USA FOR AFRICA, WHAT A FUCKING SCAM! POVERTY BEGINS AT HOME, WHAT ABOUT OUR LAND??"  

I have several bags of pig shit I'd be willing to donate.

Well, if they need help, ther're a couple thousand Somalis around here we could send back.

I can't believe the UN actually has the audacity to ask after what happened the last time around!!!

Not only no, but        ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NO!!!!


I'd like to further request that the idiots who voted yes be banned for forgetting their history, some people, gessh.....

Quoted: Quoted: There is no helping them. Been there, done that...........NEXT!

+1, And hopefully in before the people who think the only thing to know about Somalia they saw in a movie...

Fuck 'em

Quoted: Fuck 'em

ETA When they asked for that, we should have showed them the video of the civilians dragging our men through the streets and tell themthat that is what they did last time we tried to help

Fucking savages...let them live like the animals they are