{"id":2004,"date":"2013-05-06T09:11:21","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T13:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2019-10-09T07:04:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T11:04:21","slug":"somalia_famine_deaths_higher_inadequate_aid_cited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charityandsecurity.org\/news\/somalia_famine_deaths_higher_inadequate_aid_cited\/","title":{"rendered":"UN\/USAID Report: Somalia Famine Death Toll Higher Than Estimated, Inadequate Aid Among Factors"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>A drastic reduction in humanitarian assistance, widespread conflict and drought combined to make the 2011 famine in Somalia the most deadly in the past 25 years, a <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/reliefweb.int\/sites\/reliefweb.int\/files\/resources\/Somalia_Mortality_Estimates_Final_Report_1May2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 2013 study<\/a><\/strong> finds.\u00a0 Commissioned by the United Nations\u2019 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development\u2019s (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSnet), the study estimates that between October 2010 and April 2012, nearly five percent of the region&#8217;s population and 10 percent of its children died because of severe food shortages. \u00a0It also noted \u201cthat limited access to most of the affected population, resulting from widespread insecurity and operating restrictions imposed by several relief agencies, was a major constraint.\u201d [p. 5] The presence of al-Shabab, a group on the U.S. terrorist list, in famine affected areas made legal restrictions an issue for aid groups.<\/p>\n<\/div><ul style=\"--awb-line-height:27.2px;--awb-icon-width:27.2px;--awb-icon-height:27.2px;--awb-icon-margin:11.2px;--awb-content-margin:38.4px;\" class=\"fusion-checklist fusion-checklist-1 fusion-checklist-default type-icons\"><li class=\"fusion-li-item\" style=\"\"><span class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon awb-icon-check\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\">\n<p>See: <strong><a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/Somalia%20Timeline_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Somalia Crisis Timeline<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/li><li class=\"fusion-li-item\" style=\"\"><span class=\"icon-wrapper circle-no\"><i class=\"fusion-li-icon awb-icon-check\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><div class=\"fusion-li-item-content\">\n<p>CSN has <a href=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/Call%20for%20Congressional%20Investigation%20into%20Restrictions%20on%20Humanitarian%20Assistance%20During%20Somali%20Famine.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">called for Congressional hearings<\/a> to look into legal restrictions on humanitarian assistance so that U.S. law does is not a contributing factor to such tragedies in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p>Between October 2010 and April 2012 the study estimated that 258,000 excess deaths occurred in southern and central Somalia, \u201cof which 52% (133,000) among children under 5 years old.\u201d [p. 8] That represents over 17 percent of children under the age of five. During the main famine period, between May and October 2011, there were more than 20,000 excess deaths per month in southern and central Somalia. [p. 9] To put this in perspective, the report notes that this rate of child deaths is \u201ctwo to three times the annual amount in all industrialised countries combined.\u201d [p. 10]<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-four\"><h4 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:22;--minFontSize:22;line-height:1.4;\">Constraints on Humanitarian Assistance as a Factor<\/h4><span class=\"awb-title-spacer\"><\/span><div class=\"title-sep-container\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-single sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#6b6b8b;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-3\"><p>&#8220;There is consensus that the humanitarian response to the famine was mostly late and insufficient,\u201d the study concluded. [p. 5] It lists the inadequate humanitarian response as one of the contributing factors to the high death rate, saying these impacts \u201cshould be viewed as the combined impact of drought, reduced humanitarian assistance, high food prices and civil strife in the affected regions\u2026all in the context of persisting and\/or worsening insecurity.\u201d\u00a0 It then concludes that \u201cThis evidence should be used to ensure such deficiencies never occur again in the future.\u201d\u00a0 [p. 10]<\/p>\n<p>U.S. law prohibits the provision of any support to a terrorist group, including incidental or accidental diversion of resources. \u00a0As an article on the study in the <em>LA Times<\/em> pointed out, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/world\/la-fg-somalia-famine-20130503,0,6469773.story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. counterterrorism policy played a role<\/a> in exacerbating the crisis.\u00a0 It noted that al-Shabaab was listed by the U.S. as terrorist organization in 2008, and that \u201cU.S. counter-terrorism law imposes sanctions on any group found to be offering even indirect assistance to a terrorist group.\u00a0 Some U.S. and international agencies halted aid deliveries to Shabab-controlled areas, fearing they could be charged with helping a designated terrorist group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. drastically cut back its aid to Somalia also, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/World\/Africa\/2011\/0722\/Antiterror-laws-could-impede-US-aid-for-Somalia-famine-victims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reducing it by 88 percent<\/a> from $237 million in 2008 to $20 million in 2011. This included the U.S. government\u2019s <a href=\"\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suspension of funding<\/a> to the UN World Food Program (WFP) in December 2009 despite the UN estimating over three million people were at risk of food shortages.\u00a0 The U.S. refused to issue a General License for charities to provide aid in al-Shabaab controlled areas of Somalia in early 2011, and <a href=\"\/news\/state_announces_new_policy_allow_famine_aid_somalia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">only partially relaxed restrictions<\/a> in August of that year, after many deaths had already occurred.<\/p>\n<p>Ken Menkhaus, an expert on Somalia at Davidson College in North Carolina, said the U.S. anti-terror laws had a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on humanitarian organizations that were trying to respond to the crisis in Somalia. \u201cEveryone wanted to get aid in. But local aid diversion was endemic,&#8221;\u00a0he said in a telephone interview to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/world\/worldnow\/la-fg-wn-somalia-famine-20130502,0,6913564.story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/global-development\/2013\/may\/02\/somalia-famine-worst-25-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Senait Gebregziabher<\/a>, Oxfam Somalia\u2019s director of operations, told <em>The Guardian<\/em> the high number of deaths should have been averted. &#8220;Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political failures. The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought, exacerbated by conflict, in Somalia, and people paid with their lives&#8221; said Gebregziabher.<\/p>\n<p>The positive impact of humanitarian response can have is noted in the improvements in food security in Somalia in 2012.\u00a0 In addition to better rains and crops, the study said \u201cimprove access to parts of Somalia (i.e. Mogadishu) and the scale-up of relief wherever access was possible, including by a variety of non-traditional donors and actors, is likely to have made a considerable difference.\u00a0 Indeed, our model suggests strongly that humanitarian assistance was a critical modulator of the effects of food insecurity\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [p. 54]<\/p>\n<p>The release of the report comes nearly a month after the U.S. announced that its <a href=\"\/news\/Somalia_Sanctions_Extended\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sanctions on Somalia would continue<\/a> with no easing of restrictions of humanitarian assistance to the country.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UN\/USAID Report: Somalia Famine Death Toll Higher Than Estimated, Inadequate Aid Among Factors - Charity &amp; 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