NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6338

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Subject: GUNS AND HUNGER
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The ACTivist, Volume 8 #9, September 1992.

The ACTivist, Ontario's peace monthly, is published by ACT for
Disarmament, 736 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2R4,
phone [phone], fax [phone], e-mail web:act. Hard copy
subscriptions are $10 for a year ($25 for institutions and funded
agencies).

Reprint freely, but please credit us (and send us a copy!)

/** gen.newsletter: 138.6 **/
** Written  8:53 pm  Aug 31, 1992 by web:act in cdp:gen.newsletter **
GUNS AND HUNGER

By Maggie Helwig
The ACTivist

**11 August, 1992

**In the dry heat of this southern Somali town, the men sweat and
strain to shift the food in its heavy, bulging sacks. This is Baydhabo,
where famine stalks the tired, the displaced, the dispossessed; where
life and hope are measured in grains of cereal; and where only the
slowly sharpening agony of creeping starvation marks the passage
of time ...

It takes the men more than three hours of toil beneath the glare of
the sun and the watchful protection of the armed perimeter guards
before the warehouses are finally empty, the trucks loaded, and all
are ready to move. Then, in a storm of dust, a last staccato volley of
 gunshots, and a cloud of belched diesel exhaust, the convoy is
underway. More than two hundred tons of nourishment for
Baydhabo's walking skeletons have just become pillage, spoils of war
for a renegade bank of soldiers. Such looting incidents no longer
produce the bitter anger and indignation that they used to; they
have become as commonplace in Somalia as the empty stares of the
dying and the silence of the dead ...

The distinction between the loosely formed and unpaid units of
the diverse armed factions and the bands of the self-employed
Shifta [bandits] is at best obscure -- when it exists at all. Soldiers who
have turned their arms against the foe of the day feel no constraints
 about turning them to more mercenary advantage when they return
from the front ...***

This is an excerpt from a letter sent by Canadian physician
Matthew Bryden from Somalia. Bryden co-ordinates Somali relief
operations for Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders,
an international and strictly independent medical relief organization.
MSF has been in Somalia since the fall of dictator Mohammed Siad
Barre in January, 1991 -- long before most relief groups 'discovered'
the Somali crisis. And they have seen the situation grow steadily
more desperate, as the country collapsed into battles between
heavily armed feuding factions, and the civilians, as always, paid
the price.

During the Cold War years, Somalia, with its strategic location in the
Horn of Africa, was made a pawn in the superpower games. First the
USSR, then the United States, pumped weapons into the area and
propped up a brutally repressive regime -- a pattern only too familiar.
With the collapse of the Cold War, the dictatorship too collapsed,
leaving behind a population whose basic social structures had been
 destroyed or distorted beyond recognition, and a land where there
were far more guns than there was food.

"These people lived under a tyrant government for 21 years,"
says Dr. Abdulqadir Omar of the Somali Immigrant Aid Organization
in Toronto. "They have lost the sense being in control of themselves
as independent people or an independent society. They were denied
basic social rights, and this is the aftermath ... [Siad Barre] used
anything to stay in power, he used the basic social structure of the
Somalis and distorted it, created hatred."

Barre's manipulation of clan loyalties has been behind much of the
violence that has torn Somalia apart in recent months, a constant
subtext to the struggles between various 'liberation' armies, and
the battles for diminishing food supplies.

The fighting between rival militias has, in fact, subsided considerably
over the last few months, with at least one important ceasefire
agreement in place. But the weapons remain; and the severe
starvation, and the disorientation of the society, remain. On top of
this, the Horn of Africa is suffering a drought -- something they
could deal with under more normal conditions, but which now, coming
in the immediate wake of war, threatens an entire generation. Relief
workers trying to deliver supplies face roving bands of looters,
feuding tribal factions, the remaining militias, and random acts of
despairing violence.

Though governments of wealthier countries have provided some
aid, and pledged more, much has been held back due to fears that it
might be dangerous to deliver, or that it will go to the 'wrong people'.
 Meanwhile, says Medecins sans Frontieres, "if nothing is done to
help them, three quarters of Somalia's children will die in the coming
year." It is estimated that 1 to 2 million Somalis -- mainly women
and children -- face immediate starvation, and many more are
suffering severe malnutrition, and possibly starvation in the longer
 term. As well, more than 300,000 have fled to Kenya, itself hit by
the drought.

There is, MSF and the Somali organizations abroad agree, only one
short-term solution. Food. MSF offers three recommendations:

1. Mount a large scale food operation. "In order to reach the most
needy populations, it is imperative to flood the country with food,
so that it ceases to be a high-stakes item, stolen by those with
weapons. Only by making food readily available will it be possible
to ease the tensions caused by shortages, the principal obstacle to
relief operations."

Dr. Omar agrees. "As food and other supplies get to Somalia, the
tension decreases. Anytime there is food, the tension decreases.
The first step is to feed everybody. Then you can sit down at the
table and work things out by diplomatic means, instead of using
a gun."

2. "Agree to accept a relaxation of controls and certain losses
during food distribution. In the current situation, where it is
impossible to tell the difference between the hungry and the
starving, diversion of food aid is of secondary concern. The food that
we think is being stolen .. is eaten by whoever has it."

3. Most controversially, MSF says that "the presence of U.N.
peacekeeping troops should no longer be considered a priority or
 prerequisite. Only massive food aid ... will lessen the attacks on
 humanitarian aid convoys ... Furthermore, the deployment of
[U.N.] troops might absorb some of the financial resources that
Somalia needs so desperately today."

This last recommendation is by no means universally accepted.
It does, however, provide an instructive contrast to the anxieties
 of the U.S. government, which has repeatedly held back aid on
the grounds that there are not enough troops, that conditions are
not secure enough, to protect delivery.

"We are urging the government to take part in an international
effort to send shipments of food and medicine," says Dr. Omar.
"They have said that because there is no central government, no
 coordination, they can't deliver aid -- but if you just dump food
to that country, the likelihood that more people will have something
to eat will increase."

The Somali Immigrant Aid Association is also pressuring the
government on their immigration and refugee policy. There are
plans currently afoot to tighten Canada's immigration and refugee
policy considerably, keeping out of the country many who would
previously have been able to enter and throwing current refugee
claims into jeopardy. "This is not the time to close the door against
refugees, especially Somalis," says Omar. "We are also asking for a
moratorium on deportations, and for the government to assist in
family reunification."

In the longer term, we in the First World must stop farming out
our weapons and our wars to countries like Somalia. For more
information about what you can do in the short term, contact:

* Medecins sans Frontieres, 56 The Esplanade, Suite 202,
Toronto, Ont. M5E 1A7, 416-366-6702

* Somali Immigrant Aid Association, 698 Western Rd., Suite 21,
Toronto, Ont. M6N 3R3, 416-766-7326

* Coalition for a Just Refugee and Immigration Policy, 947
Queen St. W., Toronto, Ont. M4M 1J9, 416-469-1123


** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **