thread approved
.............MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The number of Somalis uprooted by fighting in their own country has hit a "staggering" one million, with nearly 200,000 streaming out of the capital in the past two weeks alone, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Up to 600,000 people were thought to have fled Mogadishu since February, when clashes pitting allied Somali-Ethiopian troops against suspected Islamist insurgents started escalating.-Reuters
Well done ''International community''Somalia Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Africa, U.N. Says
November 20, 2007
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
AFGOOYE, Somalia, Nov. 19 — The worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, several United Nations officials said, may not be unfolding in Darfur, but here, along a 20-mile strip of busted-up asphalt.
A year ago, the road between the market town of Afgooye and the capital of Mogadishu was just another typical Somali byway, lined with overgrown cactuses and the occasional bullet-riddled building. Now it is a corridor teeming with misery, with 200,000 recently displaced people crammed into swelling camps that are rapidly running out of food.
Natheefa Ali, who trudged up this road a week ago to escape the blood bath that Mogadishu has turned into, said Monday that her 10-month-old baby was so malnourished she can’t swallow.
“Look,” Ms. Natheefa said, pointing to her daughter’s splotchy legs, “her skin is falling off, too.”
United Nations officials said that Somalia has higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed and many fewer aid workers than Darfur, which is often publicized as the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis and has taken clear priority in terms of getting United Nations-backed peacekeepers.
The relentless urban combat in Mogadishu, between an unpopular transitional government — installed partially with American help — and a determined Islamist insurgency, has driven waves of desperate people up the Afgooye road, where more than 70 camps of twigs and plastic have popped up seemingly overnight.
The people here are hungry, exposed, sick and dying. And the few aid organizations willing to brave a lawless, notoriously dangerous environment cannot keep up with their needs, like providing milk to the thousands of babies with fading heartbeats and bulging eyes.
United Nations officials working on Somalia are trying to draw more attention to the country’s plight, which they feel has fallen into Darfur’s shadow. They have recently organized several trips, including one on Monday, for journalists to see for themselves.
“The situation in Somalia is the worst on the continent,” said Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the top United Nations official for Somalia.
“Many of these kids are going to die,” said Eric Laroche, the head of United Nations humanitarian operations in Somalia. “We don’t have the capacity to reach them.”
He added: “If this were happening in Darfur, there would be a big fuss. But Somalia has been a forgotten emergency for years.”
That emergency has included floods, droughts and locusts, as well as suicide and roadside bombs, and near-daily assassinations.
United Nations officials say the recent round of plagues, natural and man-made, coupled with the residual chaos that has consumed Somalia for more than a decade, have put the country on the brink of a famine. In the worst hit areas, like Afgooye, recent surveys indicate the malnutrition rate is 19 percent, compared with about 13 percent in Darfur, with 15 percent being the emergency threshold.
But unlike Darfur, where the suffering is eased by a billion-dollar aid operation and more than 10,000 aid workers, Somalia is still considered mostly a no-go zone. Just last week, two people were shot to death at an aid distribution center in Afgooye. United Nations officials estimate that total emergency aid is less than $200 million, partly because it is so difficult just getting food into the country.
Pirates lurking off the coast of Somalia have attacked more than 20 ships this year, including two carrying United Nations food. The militias that rule the streets — typically teenage gunmen in wraparound shades and flip-flops — have jacked up roadblock taxes to $400 per truck. To make matters worse, the transitional government last month jailed a senior official of the United Nations food program in Somalia, accusing him of being a terrorist, though he was eventually released.
United Nations officials now concede that the country was in better shape during the brief reign of Somalia’s Islamist movement last year. “It was more peaceful,” Mr. Laroche said. “And much easier for us to work. The Islamists didn’t cause us any problems.”
Mr. Ould-Abdallah called those six months, which were essentially the only epoch of peace most Somalis have tasted for years, Somalia’s “golden era.” -NY Times
thread approved
Ina lilahi wa ina ilayhi raji'oon. this saddens me alot and these are my people.
Allahumansurna wa ikhwanana wa ummatina wa mujahideenana.
hang on,
where are all the disbelievers that were approving the attacks on the islamic courts last year?
they were so vocal on here before, now silence.
assalaamu alaykum,
Abu Abdullah
Fear has approched them and thus leading to shut theri mouthes. Don't u know the mahakeem are getting stronger again and the AU are complaining and the kuffar are fleeing and dying in the battlefield of Mugdisho, alhamdulillah.
Allahumansur ikhwanana Al-mujahideen fi kuli makan.
Er, right...format_quote Originally Posted by al-muslimah
kay: Back to the real world...
I'm not sure what point you think is being made, here. If there were no Islamist insurgents there would be no fighting and nobody being displaced anywhere. No fighting, no uprooting. It's the reverse of the situation before when the Islamic Courts controlled Mogadishu, but in both cases it took two to tango. The only solution is to put away the guns, sit down, talk, and come up with a peaceful agreement.
wow... that is the real world solution?format_quote Originally Posted by TrumbleEr, right...
I'm not sure what point you think is being made, here. If there were no Islamist insurgents there would be no fighting and nobody being displaced anywhere. No fighting, no uprooting. It's the reverse of the situation before when the Islamic Courts controlled Mogadishu, but in both cases it took two to tango. The only solution is to put away the guns, sit down, talk, and come up with a peaceful agreement.
Peace agreement........you're kidding right??
let me get this straight...your blaming a people for resisting an invasion of their homeland rather than the invaders for actually launching the invasionformat_quote Originally Posted by TrumbleEr, right...
I'm not sure what point you think is being made, here. If there were no Islamist insurgents there would be no fighting and nobody being displaced anywhere. .
i suppose you supported the invading nazi's in the second world war?
erm no its not - before the islamic courts took over, their was no security - street wars and rival clans fighting were common place - the islaimc courts came in and actually bought some security to the place and had support from the population for what they did - i remember seeing somalis celebrating on eid and saying this was the first eid in years where they could celebrate out on the streets without fear of being killed, harmed or robbedNo fighting, no uprooting. It's the reverse of the situation before when the Islamic Courts controlled Mogadishu, but in both cases it took two to tango.
on the other hand christian ethiopia invaded somalia sijmply because the ones that had bought a bit of security to the country happened to be an islamic group
heres a peaceful solution for ya :The only solution is to put away the guns, sit down, talk, and come up with a peaceful agreement.
ethiopians p**s off back to ethiopia
By Chechnya---heres a peaceful solution for ya :
ethiopians p**s off back to ethiopia--
Yup tell me about.They should be dragged back to Ethiopia.I love our mujahideen.They rock!!
inshallah they will be kicked out soon and some sort of peace can resume over somaliaformat_quote Originally Posted by al-muslimah
and then they can invade russia
Hahahaha!!
Russia and Somalia(governments) has a long history beefing with eachother.But mujahideen in both Chechnya and Somalia are friends.All somalians are crazy about Ameer Khattab I don't think none of them didn't watch his jihad videos especially the ones I know.Man Chechnya is so beautiful.Mashallah.
No, I'm not kidding. Perhaps you would prefer to watch the Somalis slaughter each other for another twenty years? A small price to pay just to cheer on anyone who calls themselves "muhajadeen", maybe?format_quote Originally Posted by al-muslimah
i see you ignored my post...to repeat, the only time in the last few years there was ever any peace in somalia was due to the islamic courts - no-one elseformat_quote Originally Posted by Trumble
so yes we support our brothers who are fighting on the correct path, who have shown they have enormous support amongst the populaion after they came into power last time to rid their land of the ethiopian invaders and the street gangs and bring some peace to the people again inshallah
correct path? I think they strayed off the correct path, if they were ever on it.format_quote Originally Posted by Chechnya
Trumble problem is; you have two dictators behind the wheel, who are known to be myopic and stubborn and who don't care about their own people(their trackrecord is evidence of this fact). Somalia never experienced in the whole period of Anarchy (the unfortunate years of civil war 92/3 excl.) the same type of suffering that's being unleashed on them today. A million people didn't flee during Anarchy. When the Islamists tookover remnants of Warlord militia's were still resisting in small pockets of Mogadishu yet a million people didn't flee during that time.
They fled when a so-called ''international recognised'' and ''western-backed'' government entered the city with foreign mercenaries. You have to realize a people (doesn't matter which part of the Globe) will only flee in such 'titanic' numbers when they have been put under so much duress and suffering that it's unbearable. The shelling of residential homes, the torture,rape of civilians by so-called government troops and their foreign allies, investigations have been set in motion that according to some sources classify these acts as ''war crimes'' and that's exactly what they are.
So tell me ,should the French freedom fighters who's people were being humiliated by the Nazi's in collaboration with the fake ''french'' traiterous government have simply held talks with these two entities or was their noble fight a ''just'' fight?
It's quite sinister for people to compare an entity that banned soccer games with an entity that's committing genocide.
Subhanallah
Yes, I did. Partially because of your moronic comment regarding the Nazis, but mostly because you are incapable of grasping my point. It is now irrelevant what life was like in the areas controlled by the Islamic Courts as that situation no longer exists. As an aside, there was no 'peace' where the IC were trying to expand that influence where it was not wanted, although obviously it is convenient for you to 'forget' that.format_quote Originally Posted by Chechnya
What is relevant is the situation now... and how ever much you may jump up and down shouting "go Muhajadeen!" it or even "Ethiopians go home!" the situation for the ordinary Somalis who just want a quiet life will not change for the better unless people put down their guns and sit down and talk.
yes it was very moronic - but you have only yourself to blame after that even more moronic suggestion of blaming a country resisting an invader for the problems and not the criminal invaders themselvesformat_quote Originally Posted by Trumble
actually there was peace over large swathes ofland - including for the first time in mogidishu.
do your research on the small period oftime that the courts were in power for - and your right,, their war against the warring clans that had bought the country to destruction wasnt fully over but it was getting there
when war is forced upon you talks are uselessWhat is relevant is the situation now... and how ever much you may jump up and down shouting "go Muhajadeen!" it or even "Ethiopians go home!" the situation for the ordinary Somalis who just want a quiet life will not change for the better unless people put down their guns and sit down and talk.
if ethipoia held talks before invading, im sure there would have been some response but now as ethiopians are killing and raping (surprise surprise) and occupying, talks will get nowhere
unforunatley many "crusader" (for lack of a better word!) dont seem to believe in talks - america, uk, ethiopia, russia all seem to wanna invade rather than talk - strange people
You need to expand your vocabulary.:unhappy:"crusader" (for lack of a better word!)
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