Famine in Eastern Africa

It’s over a month since famine was declared in Somalia and alarm bells clearly rung about serious food shortages across Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia. 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are in desperate need of food, clean

Read the rest of Somalia’s Famine: Never again, again – By Jamie Drummond, Exec Director, ONE »

As Richard Dowden says, drought does not necessarily lead to famine. Famine occurs when politics obstructs people’s own capacity to manage local shortage by movement and trade, or leads to a failure to provide the necessary external assistance.  In Somalia,

Read the rest of Famine in Eastern Africa – Could the international relief system could have done better? – A response to Richard Dowden by John Seaman »

“Here we go again”. These words should have been heard in November last year. Not since. That’s when the drought early warning lights flashed in Eastern Africa. No one should be saying it now. But now we are seeing pictures

Read the rest of Famine in Somalia: It’s the Politics…stupid – By Richard Dowden »

Continuing our examination of fundamentalist Islamic groups in Africa, Christopher Anzalone looks at Somalia’s Al-Shabab insurgents, describing how they relate to the country’s more conventional governance structures, and the difficulties the East African famine has thrown up for the group.

Read the rest of Who are Somalia’s ‘al-Shabab?’ – By Christopher Anzalone »