Famine could rip through Somalia as soon as April, UN warns

Somali children are seen within the Iftin Camp for the internally displaced people outside Baradere town, Gedo Region, Jubaland state, Somalia. (Reuters/File Photo)
Somali children are seen within the Iftin Camp for the internally displaced people outside Baradere town, Gedo Region, Jubaland state, Somalia. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 14 February 2023
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Famine could rip through Somalia as soon as April, UN warns

Famine could rip through Somalia as soon as April, UN warns
  • Adam Abdelmoula, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the country, told Arab News the current drought is unprecedented in country’s history
  • The UN is seeking $2.6 billion in donations to fund aid for 8 million Somalis, amid calls for donors to “front-load their support”

NEW YORK CITY: The UN is seeking $2.6 billion to help 8 million people in Somalia as the country once again finds itself on the brink of widespread famine, as a result of overlapping crises including prolonged drought, conflict, insecurity, high food and water costs, and mass displacement.

Though the attention of the world has gradually returned to the country following similar dire warnings last year, this has not resulted in additional funding for the humanitarian response there.

Adam Abdelmoula, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, described the drought currently ravaging the African nation as “truly unprecedented” and said more than 700,000 people are expected to experience catastrophic hunger.

“The 2011 famine that killed 360,000 people was the result of three consecutive failed rainy seasons,” he told Arab News. “Now, we have already sailed past five failed rainy seasons — and that should tell you where are we at the moment.

“Don’t listen to those who tell you that this is the worst drought in 40 years; this is the worst drought in Somalia’s recorded history, period.”

After the famine in 2011, the international community said “never again,” Abdelmoula pointed out, adding: “If we truly want to honor that promise, there is no time to lose. Every delay in assistance is a matter of life or death for families in need.”

The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia, unveiled last week by the UN, its humanitarian partners and the Somali government, includes the appeal for $2.6 billion in donations to help more than 8 million people in dire need of help and protection for their survival. That is almost half the population of the country, and women and children account for 80 percent of those in need.

Launching the appeal in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Abdelmoula said 3.8 million people in the country are internally displaced, one of the highest figures in the world. The majority were driven from their homes by conflict and climate shocks.

Such high levels of displacement, he said, exacerbate already limited access to basic services. An estimated 8 million people, for example, lack access to safe water supplies, sanitation and hygiene services at a time when disease outbreaks are on the rise compared with recent years.

Meanwhile, about 2 million Somali children under the age of five are likely to face acute malnutrition, including more than half a million likely to be severely acutely malnourished. Such high rates of acute malnutrition increase the risk of diseases and death from preventable causes such as cholera, measles and acute diarrhea. Less than a third of people in areas affected by drought have access to medical care.

More than 6 million people are likely to face high levels of acute food insecurity through March this year, said Abdelmoula, and the number is expected to increase to 8.3 million between April and June amid an anticipated reduction in funding for humanitarian assistance.

Although humanitarian aid contributions helped prevent the famine threshold from being surpassed last year, as had been projected, Abdelmoula pointed out that “the distinction between a declared famine and what millions of Somalis are already experiencing is truly meaningless.”

He added: “They are already going hungry. Children are starving. The underlying crisis has not improved and even more appalling outcomes are only temporarily averted.

“Famine is a strong possibility from April to June this year, and of course beyond, if humanitarian assistance is not sustained and if the April-to-June rains underperform as currently forecast.”

The 2022 humanitarian response plan for Somalia was only 67 percent funded, Abdelmoula said.

“And I hasten to say that 80 percent of that funding came from a single donor country, and that’s the United States,” he added. “And the US made it clear, again and again, that that was a one-off.”

The EU provided 10 percent of the funding, and the rest of the world contributed the remaining 10 percent.

“With higher and more severe needs in 2023, and the continuing risk of famine, we can and must do better,” Abdelmoula said.

Somalia is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and is ill-equipped to cope with the consecutive droughts that have depleted the country’s water supplies, resulting in crop failures as a result of which agricultural production has fallen to 70 percent below average.

The Somalis affected by these successive droughts are “the human face of the global climate emergency,” Adelmoula added.

Salah Jama, the deputy prime minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, said the country’s people “are paying the price for a climate emergency they did very little to create.”

Getting aid to those most in need remains a tremendous challenge. Some areas are hard to reach because of poor roads infrastructure. Others are under the control of Al-Shabab, an uncompromising, unpopular group with links to Al-Qaeda. Its deadly insurgency against the federal government has resulted in humanitarian aid convoys being attacked.

In a vicious cycle, the scarcity exacerbated by the activities of Al-Shabab means more desperate young Somalis are vulnerable to recruitment by the group.

“Unfortunately, we have very, very limited access to areas under Al-Shabaab control,” Abdelmoula told Arab News. “We try to use proxies at times — community leaders, some community-based (nongovernmental organizations) and so on — but that is very sporadic and very inconsistent.”

However, the Somali government recently regained control of some areas that had been under Al-Shabaab control and, Abdelmoula said: “We came close to getting a glimpse of what the situation looks like in areas that are still under Al-Shabab control, and compared to the communities that we have been dealing with, and the caseload of the humanitarian interventions, these people are in a much, much worse shape than those that were already identified to be at the brink of famine in the (southern) Bay region.”

It is estimated there are about 700,000 people living in areas that remain under Al-Shabaab control, according to the UN.

While humanitarian groups focus on life-saving activities to avert famine, UN officials also emphasize the need to invest in livelihoods, resilience, the development of infrastructure, climate adaptation efforts, and durable solutions for the internally displaced, to help break free from a cycle of chronically recurring humanitarian crises and perpetual dependency.

“I have consistently been saying that what we see in Somalia is equally a development crisis, (not only) a humanitarian crisis, and that there are no humanitarian solutions for this protracted crisis — there are only developmental interventions that can ween the country and its people from this endless dependency on humanitarian handouts,” Abdelmoula said.

“And while most of the donors agree, we still haven’t seen that level of development assistance that will enable the country to adapt with the accelerating and intensifying climate change, and to enable the communities to rely on themselves through income- and employment-generation interventions. I haven’t seen that happen yet.”

He called for the $2.6 billion in required humanitarian aid to be accompanied by financing for “resilience, development and climate adaptation.”

“Humanitarian organizations, local communities and government authorities have ramped up responses and reached 7.3 million people in 2022 but they need additional resources and unhindered access to people in need,” Abdelmoula added, as he urged donors to step up and “front-load their support.”


Russia accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters

Russia accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters
Updated 57 min 41 sec ago
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Russia accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters

Russia accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters
  • “There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said
  • Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the US and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict

KYIV: Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the US and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine and providing it with intelligence information and helping plan attacks on Russian facilities.
Unconfirmed news reports said Storm Shadow missiles provided to Ukraine by the UK and France were used in the attack on the headquarters.
The UK Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Zakharova’s remarks or reports that Storm Shadow missiles were used in the strike.
The accusation came the day after video appeared to show the fleet’s commander, Adm. Viktor Sokolov, was still alive despite Ukraine’s claims — without providing supporting evidence — that he was among 34 officers killed in Friday’s strike on the port city of Sevastopol.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion and has increasingly come under fire by Ukraine.
Ukraine said the strike that put a large hole in the main building of the headquarters had wounded 105 people, though those claims couldn’t independently be verified.
Russia initially said one serviceman was killed but quickly retracted that statement and said the person was missing.
Moscow has provided no updates on any casualties.
The Kremlin didn’t comment Tuesday on Sokolov’s status but posted video showing him among other senior officers attending a video conference with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Sokolov didn’t speak in the clip.
When asked about Sokolov on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that he took part in Tuesday’s video call with Shoigu but refrained from further comment.
Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces posted a statement Tuesday saying its sources claimed that Sokolov was among the dead, many of whom hadn’t yet been identified. It said it was trying to verify the claim after the video surfaced.
Sokolov was shown speaking to journalists about the Black Fleet’s operations in a video posted Wednesday on a news channel linked to the Russian Defense Ministry. It wasn’t clear when the video was recorded. The video didn’t contain any mention of the Ukrainian attack on fleet headquarters.
Zakharova’s statements follow comments made Tuesday by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, who said the arrival of American-made Abrams tanks in Ukraine and a US promise to supply an unspecified number of long-range ATACMS missiles would push NATO closer to a direct conflict with Russia.


British PM urges Germany to approve $6bn fighter jet sale to Saudi Arabia

British PM urges Germany to approve $6bn fighter jet sale to Saudi Arabia
Updated 27 September 2023
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British PM urges Germany to approve $6bn fighter jet sale to Saudi Arabia

British PM urges Germany to approve $6bn fighter jet sale to Saudi Arabia
  • Sale of Eurofighter Typhoons important for financial health of UK’s defense industry
  • Report: Around 20,000 jobs in Britain depend on Typhoon program

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has privately urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to release a flagship delivery of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
Sunak is lobbying Germany to approve the sale of the 48 jets, which is thought to be worth over £5 billion ($6.1 billion) and has been identified as a strategically vital interest for the UK.
Britain is believed to have threatened to use a legal clause to try and cut Berlin out of the order altogether after disagreements within Germany’s ruling coalition.
The Typhoon was developed from the mid-1980s by a consortium of defense companies — including Britain’s BAE Systems and counterparts in Germany, Italy and Spain — under the patronage of NATO. As a result, Germany has a veto over any future sales.
Around 5,000 jobs at BAE factories and an additional 15,000 around the UK still depend on the Typhoon program, which contributes about £1.4 billion a year to the British economy, according to a report published by the company last year.
Saudi Arabia has already acquired 72 of the aircraft, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK to acquire a further 48 five years ago. The deal later stalled, but the prospects of a sale have been revived in recent months.
In July, however, Scholz caused alarm in London by announcing that Germany would not approve the delivery anytime soon. Britain has put Germany under intense diplomatic pressure to relent as a result, officials said.
The sale is important for the financial health of Britain’s defense industry and thousands of jobs at BAE factories in the north of England.
The UK also hopes that Saudi Arabia will invest in the Tempest program, a British-Italian-Japanese project to develop a next-generation fighter jet.


Biden administration seeking greater Mideast engagement, influence: Experts

Biden administration seeking greater Mideast engagement, influence: Experts
Updated 27 September 2023
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Biden administration seeking greater Mideast engagement, influence: Experts

Biden administration seeking greater Mideast engagement, influence: Experts
  • China’s growing power, Russia-Ukraine war forced US policy turnaround, say panelists at Washington D.C. forum
  • Saudi Arabia considered a key partner in America’s new foreign policy approach

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking increased engagement with Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries — a marked shift from its previous policy position — because of China’s and Russia’s growing influence in the region, and their military and economic expansionist ambitions. 

This was the consensus reached by experts evaluating US foreign policy at a forum convened on Monday by the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. 

The event titled “Assessing Biden’s Middle East Policy Approach, 2021–2023,” saw panelists analyze why the administration, which took office in 2021, initially had little desire to engage with what the US perceived as the declining geopolitical importance of Middle East nations. 

The experts argued that there were two main reasons for the White House’s subsequent change of heart — the first being Russia’s war in Ukraine launched in February 2021, and the second China’s rising regional influence which saw Beijing score a coup of sorts by brokering a rapprochement deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year. 

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow and the vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute, said the Biden administration came into office with the mantra of the “Three Cs” — COVID-19, China and climate change. 

Katulis argued that Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increased footprint in the Middle East triggered an alarm in Biden’s White House. 

“Last spring there was a steady realization in Washington that traditional allies such as Saudi Arabia might be leaning toward China,” he said.  

“China’s brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year was a seismic moment and a wake-up call for many in the White House,” he added. 

Dennis Ross, a former advisor on the Middle East to several Democrat and Republican administrations and currently a fellow at the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the Biden administration did not care about the Middle East when it took office in 2021. 

Ross said the conflict in Ukraine changed the dynamics and it was not just oil and energy — the revenue from which Russia needs to finance its war — that drove the administration to reengage in the Middle East.  

Ross said Biden’s world view also played a role, which was that there was a global ideological struggle at play between democracy and totalitarianism.     

He said the administration wanted to establish a liberal, rules-based international order to counter perceived threats from China and Russia. But it soon realized that it needed what it viewed as non-democratic nations to be part of the coalition. 

 “It turns out that you need non-democracies who have assets to be part of your coalition or at least ensure they are not part of the other coalition,” he said. 

“Biden said we are not going to withdraw from the Middle East and leave a vacuum that the Russians and the Chinese are going to fill,” he added. 

Ross argued that Biden’s policy toward the Middle East was more about China than Russia, arguing that the latter was likely to be much weaker because of the war in Ukraine. 

The US was also seeking to be the architect of an agreement to establish formal ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as part of its vision to prevent powerful competitors from establishing footholds in the oil-rich region.  

Ross said the recent visits to Saudi Arabia by Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were part of the efforts to reengage with the Kingdom’s leadership. 

Agreeing with Ross’ main arguments, Middle East expert and academic Vali Nasr pointed to the manner in which the Biden administration attempted to construct a Middle East coalition to oppose Iran’s nuclear ambitions. 

Nasr, who is professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said that Biden had traveled to Saudi Arabia in July 2022 after a visit to Israel, in order to sell them the idea of an “Arab NATO,” a proposed US-sponsored Middle East military coalition designed to counter Iran. 

“But Biden was completely rebuffed by the Saudis who told him that they are going on the path of reengagement with Iran,” he said. 

Nasr added that the US saw it needed to change its policies after perceiving China to have developed closer ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. 


India using anti-money laundering rules to ‘silence critics’: Amnesty

India using anti-money laundering rules to ‘silence critics’: Amnesty
Updated 27 September 2023
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India using anti-money laundering rules to ‘silence critics’: Amnesty

India using anti-money laundering rules to ‘silence critics’: Amnesty
  • Critics say Modi’s government has sought to pressure rights groups by heavily scrutinizing their finances

NEW DELHI: India is exploiting recommendations by a global money-laundering watchdog as a “draconian” tool to shutter civil society groups and suppress activists and critics, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Government critics within civil society organizations and the media have long complained of harassment in the world’s biggest democracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist administration, a charge it strenuously denies.
Amnesty said the recommendations of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) were being abused to bring in “draconian laws to stifle the non-profit sector” and block organizations from funding.
The 39-nation FATF, of which India has been a member since 2010, is mandated to tackle global money laundering and terrorist financing.
Critics say Modi’s government has sought to pressure rights groups by heavily scrutinizing their finances and clamping down on foreign funding.
“Under the guise of combatting terrorism, the Indian government has leveraged the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations to tighten its arsenal of financial and counter-terrorism laws which are routinely misused to target and silence critics,” Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel said in a statement.
In the last 10 years, India has canceled the licenses of more than 20,600 non-governmental organizations, with nearly 6,000 of these taking place since 2022, the report said.
In 2020, Amnesty International had to suspend its Indian operations after its bank accounts were frozen.
The Indian government defended its move, accusing Amnesty of “illegal practices” involving the transfer of “large amounts of money” from Amnesty UK to India.
Journalists critical of the government also complain of increased harassment, both on social media — where Modi’s ruling party has a powerful presence — and in the real world.


UN General Assembly president ‘encouraged’ by week’s results

UN General Assembly president ‘encouraged’ by week’s results
Updated 27 September 2023
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UN General Assembly president ‘encouraged’ by week’s results

UN General Assembly president ‘encouraged’ by week’s results
  • Dennis Francis hails major sustainable development declaration as ‘remarkable’ win
  • ‘We need to maintain this momentum and to build on it with concrete, tangible actions’

NEW YORK: The president of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday said he is “encouraged” by the progress of its 78th session, hailing the “remarkable” win of a major sustainable development declaration.

Dennis Francis spoke of the need to “unite the nations” in his opening address last week. Now addressing the UNGA as the final speaker out of 176 heads of state and ministers, he said the week’s developments are a “welcome reminder that the UN remains focused on the collective challenges of our time.”

But he warned: “Declarations in and of themselves aren’t enough. We need to maintain this momentum and to build on it with concrete, tangible actions.”

Hundreds of representatives from civil society as well as public and private organizations spoke at the UN headquarters in New York, Francis said.

The UNGA resulted in four major political declarations, covering “universal healthcare; work to end tuberculosis; pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; and the need to urgently … scale up sustainable development progress.”

The final declaration was described as a “particularly remarkable win” by Francis, who said it serves as a commitment to “push harder and close the gaps.”

He lauded member states for taking part in the high-level dialogue on development financing, highlighting the prevalence of discussions on the need to reform global finance for the benefit of the developing world. “We can’t rest until there’s accessibility, equity and justice in development finance,” he said.

Few topics raised during the week were as “frequent, consistent or as charged” as the war in Ukraine, he added.

The conflict being perpetrated by a permanent member of the UN Security Council is “unconscionable,” and has rekindled “unthinkable” decades-old fears of nuclear weapons, Francis said.

He recommitted to “shining a spotlight on the urgent need to resolve these situations of deep concern.”

Climate change requires each member state to “look closely at our own carbon footprints” and move beyond gross domestic product to a “metric that captures a country’s true vulnerability to shocks.”

Francis urged member states to take part in the UAE-hosted UN Climate Change Conference later this year with a spirit of “unity and solidarity,” and deliver a bold plan of action.

“Whether on climate or conflict, poverty or justice, or peace or strong institutions, these aren’t just global calls, they’re existential calls,” he said.

Francis ended his address by reminding member states: “We hear so often that the clock is ticking. We have it within us today to heal our divisions, find integrated solutions that reflect our universal values and commitments, and usher in a brighter tomorrow.”