From: antbh@strix.udac.uu.se (Bernhard Helander)
Subject: SOMALIA ALERT (2)
Organization: UDAC, Uppsala, Sweden
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 18:35:22 GMT

This is a cross-posted article that I orginally came across on alt.activism:

harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai) writes:


>    "Finally, a top Red Cross official said: "I thought I would never see
>    Ethiopia again, and I DIDN'T THINK WE WOULD ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN."

>    "Why was it allowed to happen again?  The Red Cross predicted this
>    disaster 6 months ago.


>[..from PeaceNet's pn.alerts via misc.activism.progressive...] 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>Topic 51 More On The Worst Human Tragedy Response 1 of 1 peacenet
>pn.alerts 9:07 pm Jul 28, 1992
>From: <peacenet> Subject: Re: More On The Worst Human Tragedy
>From dmorse Tue Jul 28 17:23:25 1992 From: Dorothy Morse <dmorse@igc.org>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

>I called that State Department number.  It is a general line for
>public opinion.  A live woman seemed to listen and even to take notes.
>She said the calls are summarized and passed onto Secretary of State
>James Baker.  Please call if you can.  The number again is
>1-202-647-4000.

>Here is some background information from the New York Times, July 19:
>"Red Cross officials say they believe that about 1/3 of Somalia's
>people, estimated to number anywhere from 4.5 million to 6 million,
>are likely to die within the next 6 months unless more food is pumped
>into the country."

>(That's about 2 million people in 6 months, folks.  Please call the
>State Department, call your congressperson, write your newspapers,
>call in to radio talk shows.)

>More from the Times: the Somalians have had a traditional method of
>coping with cyclical droughts and clan warfare, because the warfare
>was simply carried on in rural areas with spears.  But now they have
>drought and war together, and the clan war is carried on with modern
>military equipment bestowed on them by the US in the 1980's and the
>Soviet Union in the 1970's, decades when Somalia was of strategic
>interest to the superpowers. It is no longer.  But their ancient ways
>of coping are gone; 25 percent of their cattle are dead, and "untold
>numbers" of their camels.  Heavily armed gangs steal grain and cattle,
>burn down fields so that sorghum cannot be planted.

>"The Director of the United Nation's Children's Fund, Dr. Siad Mure
>Aden, pointed to to countless children he said would die in the next
>few days, despite the one feeding a day provided by UNICEF.  "Dr. Aden
>gestured toward one child, a shriveled 5-year-old named Manour, whose
>father tried to warm him with the embers of a kerchief sized fire on
>the grounds of the center.  "He will die," Dr. Aden said.  "There is
>no hope."

>The Red Cross seeks to arrange safe passage for people who come to
>their feeding kitchens, after their livestock and supplies are taken
>by the armed gangs.

>Although violence and technology have created the famine, the violence
>escalates now because of lack of food.  An educated Somalian said,
>"You have three choices: leave, work for a humanitarian organization,
>or grab a gun and loot."  For this reason, some people want a UN
>Peacekeeping force in there.  Doctors Without Borders wants to
>saturate the area with food, stopping what violence is caused by
>frantic people fighting over food. It's not a question of
>either/or--everything possible should be done.

>Finally, a top Red Cross official said: "I thought I would never see
>Ethiopia again, and I DIDN'T THINK WE WOULD ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN."

>Why was it allowed to happen again?  The Red Cross predicted this
>disaster 6 months ago.

>For comparison purposes: the UN is supposed to have 50 unarmed
>monitors on the scene--the peacekeeping force sent to Yugoslavia is, I
>believe, 14,400