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Washington, March 10, 2012 – A House of Representatives panel is calling
on all U.S. lawmakers to remain focused on the continuing food, refugee
and humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.
At Thursday's hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, held
jointly with the House Hunger Caucus, Obama administration officials
testified that the United States has made a difference in the region,
but that there still are millions of people who urgently need
assistance.
Committee Co-Chairman Representative James McGovern, a Democrat from
Massachusetts, said that although the United Nations declared last month
that there is no longer famine in Somalia, the crisis in the region is
far from over.
"As a result of the combination of war and hunger, some 2.5 million
Somalis have migrated within Somalia or to a neighboring country in
search of security and food. This extraordinary movement of desperate
people has created an extraordinary refugee crisis in the region," he
said.
Nancy Lindborg of the U.S. Agency for International Development said the
United States reacted quickly to early warning signs of famine and has
led international efforts in the horn of Africa, contributing $935
million to the region during the crisis.
"Really the top line in the face of one of the worst droughts in 60
years, we mobilized and we made a difference," she said.
Lindborg and the other Obama administration officials who testified
called for continued focus and assistance to the region, saying the
refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa remains one of the most severe in
the world.
Margaret McKelvey, director of the Office of Assistance for Africa at
the State Department, said that getting neighboring countries to
continue to accept refugees is a challenge.
"I think, though, the greatest challenge we face in the region is
maintaining first asylum for refugees," said McKelvey. "For example,
Djibouti continues to be reluctant to accept military-age Somali males."
McKelvey said Kenya continues to push for humanitarian zones inside
so-called "liberated" areas of Somalia to accommodate refugees, but
added that many Somalis still need to leave the country to find a place
where they are protected from violence.
Deborah Malac, director of the Office of East African Affairs at the
State Department, acknowledged that drought in the region might have
sparked the scarcity of food, but laid much of the blame for the
suffering of Somalis on extremist militants.
"It was al-Shabaab’s actions in the areas of Somalia that it controls
that turned this emergency into a full-blown humanitarian crisis," she
said. "Years of conflict and instability have broken down the resiliency
of most southern Somali communities."
Al-Shabaab is fighting Somalia's transitional government in an attempt
to impose its strict version of Islamic law on the country. The group
has blocked relief agencies from providing food to many in
hunger-stricken areas.
Source: Voice of America
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