The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia
that militants banned it from more than two years ago. The foray into the famine zone
is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid
workers have not yet been able to help.
Tens of thousands already have trekked
to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps. Responding
to the Horn of Africa crisis, the Jesuit Refugee Service has also announced plans
to step up ongoing work for Somalis in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Lydia O’Kane sat
down with Father Peter Balleis SJ, International Director of JRS and Communications
Co-ordinator James Stapleton.
Speaking about severity of the situation Father
Balleis says, “ The crisis or so it looks like a new crisis is a chronic crisis. For
years and years Somalia is at war, not all parts but a central part and the Somali
population are leaving the country as refugees”.
James Stapleton adds that
some aid agencies are reporting that they have never seen a crisis on this scale before.
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