Global Security Studies Practicum

06 December 2011 London (Reuters) — The crisis in the Horn of Africa which has left more than 13 million people at risk of starvation is said to continue into the spring, and possibly the summer. The crisis, triggered by the worst drought in decades, has affected Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. Kristalina Georgieva, European Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, said the Sahel region faces very dramatic hunger next year and feared some countries there are ignoring the problem. Georgieva said she was extremely concerned about the famine’s long-term repercussions on the region because of the vast numbers of Somalis who had fled to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. Instability in Somalia meant they were unlikely to return home once the crisis was over. The commissioner said there were probably 400,000 to 500,000 Somalis in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, plagued by unrest, and that the flow of refugees from poor country to poor country has stability and security impl...

02 November 2011 London (The Guardian) — Natural disasters, armed conflict and famine devastating the Horn of Africa have caused an increase in human smuggling and trafficking in the region. Women and children, most fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda are being trafficked into Kenya and sold into prostitution, domestic labor, or cattle herding with a promise of a better life. Womankind Kenya , an NGO based in Kenya’s North Eastern Province, estimates that 50 young girls are trafficked or smuggled to Nairobi each week. The bulk of the distribution of girls to different parts of Kenya and across the world occurs from the central market in Nairobi. The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 10,000 people are trafficked into Kenya’s Coast province each year. In efforts to curb trafficking, President Mwai Kibaki signed The Counter Trafficking in Persons Act in 2010 . Under the law, trafficking in persons is now cr...

25 OCTOBER 2011 Reuters (Washington)-- The United States is increasing food aid to drought-hit and strife-torn Horn of Africa nations. U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton stated that the U.S. is providing $100 million for food and humanitarian assistance in addition to the $650 million that has already been donated. According to Clinton, tens of thousands of people, most being children, have already died, and as many as 750,000 people are currently experiencing famine-level conditions. In addition, she stated that al-Shabaab continues to curtail access for relief workers and denying people food and medical aid in Somalia. She believes the additional U.S. support will help relief workers reach more people well into next year. RELIABILITY: 9 SOURCE: U.S. Increases Food Aid To Horn Of Africa http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79O00F20111025

17 OCTOBER 2011 The Guardian (London)--The kidnappings of aid workers and tourists, torrential rains, and dangerously low agency funds are hampering relief efforts in the Horn of Africa. Medecins sans Frontieres (M SF) evacuated part of its team working in Dagahaley and Ifo, mostly in result of the kidnapping of two Spanish MSF women, and the shooting of their driver. Consequently, MSF's work has been hindered in the camp, where it has tackled severe malnutrition and disease. Recent heavy rains in Mogadishu have swept away makeshift camps around the capital. A deluge of rain flooded the shelters of roughly 2,800 people in the Sigale camp, sweeping away at least two children, and killing a pregnant woman. The Disasters Emergency Comm itt ee (DEC) has said that despite raising the third highest total in its history, there was still a shortage of funds to deal with the scale of the problems in the region. In conjunction, Save the Children is still appealing $100m to fund the emerg...

11 October 2011 London (The Guardian) —While agencies bring food and medical aid to famine-hit Somalia, escalating sexual violence is treated as a low priority. This is in part due to the difficulty for large foreign-aid organizations to access the women in need, those living in al-Shabaab -controlled internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. For sexual predators, famine and vulnerability equals opportunity. A recent United Nations assessment reported that cases of rape have quadrupled during the famine. If a victim of rape dares to complain, she is accused of promiscuity or “speaking against the brotherhood,” both crimes punishable by beheading or stoning. Solutions outside the traditional big-aid model have proven to be effective. Grassroots Somali leader Fartun Adan opened Sister Somalia , a rape crisis center inside Mogadishu’s government-controlled safe zone. She has developed a malleable direct-aid structure informed by local context, catering to victims’ specific needs. SOURCE: ...

Durin g an annual meeting, the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) , Antonio Guterres , criticized the international community for reacting too slowly to a deterioration in the Horn of Africa hunger crisis . Aid workers and critics say a string of early warnings about drought and failed rains in the region has been months if not years in the making. More than 13 million people face severe hunger across East Africa. Somalia is at the epicenter of the crisis, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation. Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab has refused to allow food shipments to many of the famine-hit areas of which it controls. Other suffering countries in the region include Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Uganda. Guterres used his speech to highlight what many U.N. officials expect to be the increasingly unpredictable nature, frequency and severity of tomorrow’s humanitarian crisis. He appealed to UNHCR’s executive committee for a better understanding of the need for more funding fl...