A collective failure at Horn of Africa
"There is a new economic growth story emerging from Africa. Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world. The India-Africa partner- ship is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggle against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease, illiteracy and hunger." Indian PM
Africa, the poorest and the economically the most backward segment of the globe is now providing opportunities for the rich people of the world to become richer. The entire world, including the developed, emerging and developing, are moving fast towards this vast unhindered, un- explored, unexploited region of the world. Most of the nations have scrambled for concessions in African continent with sheer motives of making outright profits for them. But the big powers have always neglected the pains and underdevelopment of the African countries. The Africans have faced incessant ethnic violence and political instability leading to mass hunger and poverty. The role of United Nations, US and other big powers in this region has been far from satisfaction and needs to be streamlined through instrospection.
The present crisis in the Horn of Africa, in which more than 12 million Africans, mainly pastoralists in the dry lands of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and neighbouring countries, are at risk of starvation after two failed rainy seasons. It is a major challenge for every leading nations, NGOs, international organizations, private sector investment and grassroots initiatives to get rid of the insurmountable conditions of this region. Thousands of Somalis have fled to the neighbouring Kenyan camp of Dadaab, which was originally built for 90,000 people is currently hosting more than 440,000 refugees and in this hunger more than 3.5 million people may starve to death. The World Food Pro- gramme says it cannot reach 2.2 million Somalis who live in territory con- trolled by al-Shabab in south-central Somalia. According to the UN report some 3.7m people in Somalia are dependent on foreign food aid distributed by their World Food Programme. The political instability, extreme poverty, mal- governance, global warming - all have made the Horn of Africa, Yemen and beyond as the most vulnerable region of the world.
The world efforts have wasted trillions of dollars in sending peace keeping forces and military operations but no concerted effort was made to help the region to strengthen the pastoralist economies in the face of these environ-mental threats. A proper roadmap was never developed by the world institutions like IMF, World Bank, IDA, IFC, etc. The UN and other aid agen- cies have described the current situation in the East and Horn of Africa as the worst drought in 60 years and the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world," but have done nothing significantly in this regard. The UN always tried to rely on the politics of USA to meet the demands of the region. Moreover, the "traditional donors", including the US and the EU, have fallen far short of promises they made at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009 to assist smallholder farmers, including pasto- ralists. 
I firmly believe in one thing that noth- ing succeeds hunger. Hunger is the most pathetic, brutal and tormenting experience of life. The history has categorically told that without proper economic stability, political stability cannot be achieved. The brutal and inhuman politics amidst hunger is the most unpardonable act of a living be- ing. Somalia has lacked an effective government since before the famine of the early 1990s. Most of southern Somalia is controlled by the alShabab Islamist group, which has pre- vented most international aid organizations, including the World Food Programme, from operating in its ar- eas two years ago. It is unfortunate when the militants of al-Shabab are trying to stop men from joining the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the parched regions of south- central Somalia that the fighters con- trol. It has been reported that in many cases, the al-Qaida-linked militants are also intercepting the men and even they started indiscriminate killings. It has to be noted that the famine in the Horn of Africa has threatened al-Sha- bab's hold on areas it controls, with the militants fearing this disaster will drive away the people they were tax- ing, forcing to work and conscripting into military service.
The World Food Programme has admitted that since 1992, the proportion of short and long-term food crises that can be attributed to human causes has more than doubled, rising from 15 percent to more than 35 percent. All too often, these emergencies are trig- gered by conflicts. Since 2004, conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan has up- rooted more than a million people, precipitating a major food crisis -- in an area that had generally enjoyed good rains and crops. In war, food sometimes becomes a weapon. Soldiers will starve opponents into sub- mission by seizing or destroying food and livestock and systematically wrecking local markets. Fields and water wells are often mined or con- taminated, forcing farmers to abandon their land. When conflict threw Cen- tral Africa into confusion in the 1990s, the 
proportion of hungry people rose from 53 percent to 58 percent. By comparison, malnutrition is on the retreat in more peaceful parts of Africa such as Ghana and Malawi. The poverty- stricken do not have enough money to buy or produce enough food for themselves and their families. In turn, they tend to be weaker and cannot produce enough to buy more food. The Report further says that poor farming practices, deforestation, over cropping and overgrazing are exhausting the Earth's fertility and spreading the roots of hunger. Increasingly, the world's fertile farmland is under as to reduce the use of chemical inputs - fertilizers and pesticides - and to make more efficient use of energy, water and natural resources. In this regard, a sharp move away from large-scale, intensive systems of agriculture was essen- tial if growing environmental and land degradation was to be halted. The survey correctly highlighted that achieving food security through "a truly green agricultural revolution" would provide a long-term solution to hunger and malnutrition and ease price volatility while protecting the environment. It is distressing to see the glaring disparities between the northern and southern Africa and this disparity is going to be further widened by the ongoing effects of globalization in Africa through the massive expansion of the trade activities and investment in services sector. And all the leading agencies including UN, AU must come forward to surmount these imbalances. But the main question is that who will do these things to ward off hunger of this magnitude. Those who are meant to perform are preaching, then what will happen to the world. I am still in search of the answer along with those12 million people who are facing the test of being human.
(Vivek S. Raj)
