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Violence Forces Aid Programs' Closure
July 17, 2008
ADDIS ABABA, Jul 17 (OneWorld) - A rising tide of violence, intimidation, and harassment is giving aid organizations in the Horn of Africa a difficult choice. Attending to the sick and hungry puts staff at risk, while withdrawal leaves behind communities facing human rights abuses and the worst humanitarian crisis in decades.
At a market in Ethiopia © International Food Policy Research Institute / Apollo Habtamu
Three organizations this month have terminated or cut back operations in the region, citing the deteriorating security situation. The Stuttgart, Germany-based charity Bread for the World this week announced it was suspending operations in Somalia after the organization's deputy director was shot to death at his home in Mogadishu. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Sunday, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) staff withdrew from the town of Baidoa, which hosts Somalia's transitional parliament, amid rising safety concerns for its employees.
"It is intolerable and incomprehensible that humanitarian workers striving to save lives and alleviate human suffering in one of the most difficult environments in the world are being targeted and killed," said Mark Bowden, who heads the UNDP in Mogadishu.
Ethiopia and its neighbors © New Internationalist
And in neighboring Ethiopia, the Swiss chapter for Doctors Without Borders last week also terminated its relief operations in the region after police detained its staff on two occasions on suspicion of communicating with rebels.
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, 15 million people are in need of emergency aid in the Horn of Africa as a result of drought, conflict, and the rising cost of food: a combination of factors both devastating to residents and debilitating for aid workers.
Bruno Jochum, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders' Swiss chapter in Ethiopia, says the organization's decision to withdraw from the Somali region was delayed as long as possible.
"What we see today is an extremely worrying nutritional situation," he told OneWorld in a telephone interview. "It's a difficult decision."
Food Prices and Rights Abuses Add to Worries
While conflict limits the ability of aid organizations to reach vulnerable populations, the rising cost of food has also severely cut into available resources. The World Food Program's office in Addis Ababa says the cost of providing emergency rations has doubled from a year ago.
Somali family displaced by fighting between the Union of Islamic Courts and the Ethiopian-backed Somali government; January 2007 © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
And in addition to the hunger facing many in the region, Somalis in Ethiopia and Somalia are facing abuse at the hands of the Ethiopian military, charge human rights advocates.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Ethiopian military of murder, rape, torture, and economic warfare in the Somali region of the country, where it is battling an insurgency, and in Somalia, where it is allied with that country's Transitional Federal Government in a conflict with the militant arm of the Union of Islamic Courts.
Ethiopian government spokespeople were not available to comment, but have in the past called the allegations by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations a lie.
At a market in Ethiopia © International Food Policy Research Institute / Apollo Habtamu
Three organizations this month have terminated or cut back operations in the region, citing the deteriorating security situation. The Stuttgart, Germany-based charity Bread for the World this week announced it was suspending operations in Somalia after the organization's deputy director was shot to death at his home in Mogadishu. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. On Sunday, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) staff withdrew from the town of Baidoa, which hosts Somalia's transitional parliament, amid rising safety concerns for its employees.
"It is intolerable and incomprehensible that humanitarian workers striving to save lives and alleviate human suffering in one of the most difficult environments in the world are being targeted and killed," said Mark Bowden, who heads the UNDP in Mogadishu.
Ethiopia and its neighbors © New Internationalist
And in neighboring Ethiopia, the Swiss chapter for Doctors Without Borders last week also terminated its relief operations in the region after police detained its staff on two occasions on suspicion of communicating with rebels.According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, 15 million people are in need of emergency aid in the Horn of Africa as a result of drought, conflict, and the rising cost of food: a combination of factors both devastating to residents and debilitating for aid workers.
Bruno Jochum, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders' Swiss chapter in Ethiopia, says the organization's decision to withdraw from the Somali region was delayed as long as possible.
"What we see today is an extremely worrying nutritional situation," he told OneWorld in a telephone interview. "It's a difficult decision."
Food Prices and Rights Abuses Add to Worries
While conflict limits the ability of aid organizations to reach vulnerable populations, the rising cost of food has also severely cut into available resources. The World Food Program's office in Addis Ababa says the cost of providing emergency rations has doubled from a year ago.
Somali family displaced by fighting between the Union of Islamic Courts and the Ethiopian-backed Somali government; January 2007 © Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
And in addition to the hunger facing many in the region, Somalis in Ethiopia and Somalia are facing abuse at the hands of the Ethiopian military, charge human rights advocates.The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Ethiopian military of murder, rape, torture, and economic warfare in the Somali region of the country, where it is battling an insurgency, and in Somalia, where it is allied with that country's Transitional Federal Government in a conflict with the militant arm of the Union of Islamic Courts.
Ethiopian government spokespeople were not available to comment, but have in the past called the allegations by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations a lie.
