Topic: Global Food Crisis
Country: Somalia
Delegate Name: Sofie Utne
School: Traverse City West High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Somalia position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
Hunger is a huge problem in many poor nations. It kills a child every six seconds and affects millions of people every day. Currently, 36 countries worldwide are in need of external aid as a result of crop failures, conflict or security, or local high prices. Global food prices increased 83 percent over the last three years. Record prices for food and oil is led by a time of low food stocks, poor harvest and weak credit.
In Somalia, people have been dealing with poor, severe conditions for many years. Since the dictator of the Somali Democratic Republic got overrun in 1991, the government has been very weak. Different clans have been trying to gain power in the country, which has led to several intense and bloody fightings. The civil war in 1992 created devastating famine and threatened many Somalis with starvation. U.N. tried to help, but unsuccessful. No government was formed, and fighting erupted again. The current government is still weak. Somalia has a president, Abdullah Yusuf, who has ruled the country since he was elected in 1994. Because of a full-scale new civil war that broke out in 2006, the situation has been really bad. Unfortunately, the situation has become significantly worse the last few months.
The Somali president tries hard to bring peace to the country, for the first time since 1991, but he has not been able to achieve his goal so far. Abduallah Yusuf's approach to leadership has been described as authoritarian. Many of his opponents have seen sacked, jailed, or even killed. “You're either with the colonel or you are an enemy”, said one of his friends. President Yusuf has the disadvantage of not be based in the capital, but the prime minister is from the Hawiye group, which dominates the Capital. Mr. Yusuf is from the Darop group, based in Puntland.
According to the president, the Somali government is close to collapse. Because disputes within its ranks have allowed armed Islamic insurgents to take control of much of the country. “you know what the situation is. Because of the endless disputes in government, the opposition groups have taken most of the country, including Elasha, which is 18 kilometers from the capital,” he says.
In south and central Somalia, young children are currently suffering from the highest levels of malnutrition ever recorded in the area. The number of the population in need is increasing. Some 3.2 million people, or 43 percent of Somalia's population, are currently in dire need of humanitarian assistance. A big issue is how dangerous and complicated it is to deliver aid and help the population in need. Aid workers are living in hazardous conditions and come to a grief too often. So far, eight staffers and 24 aid workers in the United Nations are killed in 2008.
The situation is so dangerous the African Union peace keepers stick close to their base in Mogadishu for fear of being slaughtered by insurgents. Organizations all over the world are willing to help the Somali population. “We have never been in a situation so severe. Never, ever before,” says UNICEF representative in Somalia Cristian Bakslev-Olesen of the worsening food siuation in Somalia. The U.N. And WFP (the World Food Program) are working tirelessly in Somalia to combat starvation, malnutrition and related illness. “UNICEF will continue to provide essential medicines and supplies to the network of over 122 Maternal and Child Health (MCH) facilities and 356 health posts in Central and Southern Somalia,” says Mr. Kihara, communications officer for UNICEF Somalia. UNICEF plans to continue monitoring the situation and provide as much supportive aid as possible to the Somali people.
Recently the United Nations headquarter's New York City reported this good news; Newly available Dutch naval and NATO escorts of food convoys will ensure that WFP can bring some 59.000 tons of food into Somalia this month. It will be enough to feed 2.3 million people for six weeks.
