The Famine In Somalia

Many countries around the world have developed food deficiency and food insecurity issues. Deficiency is the lack or shortage of something, so food deficiency is the shortage of food; and food insecurity is when people in an area do not have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food at all times to meet their dietary needs. There are five main factors that contribute to a country having food deficiency and food insecurity issues, these being: environmental, demographic, political, social, and economic factors. All of these factors have influenced Ethiopia to having food deficiency and food insecurity problems. Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is home to about 85 million people, and has been suffering from food deficiency and insecurity problems for quite a while. These five factors have contributed to Ethiopia’s current state, in regard to food.

It is worth noting that Somalis are a mostly homogenous population. Specifically, they share a common language, religion (mostly Sunni Muslim, minority Shi'i) and a common historical identity. The main source of internal contention has always been disputes between the four main clan-families; the Dir, Darod, Isaaq, and Hawiye clans.(Jennifer De MaioTITLE:Managing Civil Wars: An Evaluation of Conflict-prevention Strategies in Africa ) However at this point in history, the Somali people, longing to break out from imperial rule, unified briefly under the Salihiyah tariqa, an orthodox muslim brotherhood led by Mahammad Abdille Hasan. The so-called, Dervish rebellion targeted the British and Egyptian

The location and geography of the country has caused the people to experience famine after famine, leaving many to die from starvation. A famine is in definition, “A great shortage or an extreme scarcity of food over an extended period of time” (Webster). There are several different types of famine that occur in different types of the world. The type that Ethiopia generally goes through is called a Ravallion. During a Ravallion famine, there are unusually large amounts of causalities with extreme shortages of food in certain parts of the population. There are many things that cause famine, whether it’s draught, plague, or civil disrupt. Right now, Ethiopia is experiencing a draught that has killed almost all of their crops. Because of the famines that Ethiopia experiences most every year, there is usually an increase in the amount of people malnourished. This year, 11to 14 million people are expected to go hungry leaving many to starve to death. Ethiopia has experienced many draughts like these, the worst however, being in 1983. This draught lasted two years and the draught alone killed over 400,000 people in one year, this doesn’t include the deaths that were due to starvation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983%E2%80%931985_famine_in_Ethiopia).

Somalia is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries (Campbell). Because of the Civil War, which broke out in 1991, much of Somalia’s economy has been devastated. The war left many

The world we live in today is growing at an extremely fast pace. It seems to be that everyday there are more buildings being built, more concrete being poured, and more free land being destroyed. The cause of these events is the worlds’ population rate. Every day our population reaches an all-time high, every day we gain more mouths to feed, and every day we are losing ways to feed these mouths. Food insecurity has risen significantly along with the rise of our population. We must find ways to lower the food insecurity rate by finding new farming practices, making the public more aware of this issue, and doing more ourselves to make sure that we make a change to this problem.

I am originally from Somalia a country located in the East Africa also called “Horn of Africa”, bordered by Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. I was born and raised in Kenya. However, both my parents were born and rise in Somalia, they went their school in Mogadishu, Somalia, and built their family there. Five of my siblings, we were born in Mogadishu Somalia, but unfortunately, they did not had the opportunity to experience them early childhood in Somalia. In a brief history the Republic of Somalia has had its ups and downs with unrest, starting with a war, which broke out in the early 90’s. With these conflicts came unbearable life situations and many people searched for opportunities all over the world, mainly the western continents.

Somalia is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries (Campbell). Because of the Civil War, which broke out in 1991, much of Somalia's economy has been devastated. The war left many

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Somalia is a country situated in the ÒhornÓ of East Africa. It is bordered by the Gulf of Aden in the north, the Indian Ocean on the east and southeast, Kenya in the southwest, Ethiopia in the west, and Djibouti in the northwest. Somalia is about four times the size of the State of Minnesota, or slightly smaller than Texas. The capital is Mogadishu.

soldiers were killed. The U.S won the battle, but lost the war. Sure the U.S helped feed millions of people for a certain period of time, but overall the intervention turned out to be unsuccessful because once they left, starvation would soon hit Somalia once again. The Somali leader and the main instigator of starvation was not arrested, many innocent people were killed and when the U.S withdrew its troops, 18 soldiers' lives were lost in vain because their mission was not accomplished with their deaths.

“I don 't recognize my people anymore. I feel Somalia is lost. There is no Somalia. It is just a name (Abdi, 2016)”. Over the past 20 years Somalia as a country has been in turmoil and constant fighting. Today’s Somalia is still a harsh environment and the people are unforgiving as they too are trying to survive this oasis of violence. Considering Somalia in the news now we see after years of fighting and trying to support this country with food, water, and security it has progressed but not quickly. It has been a battle for any support to the country essentially taking two steps forward and one step back.

At one point in Somalia’s history, many people did not like the government that was in place. These groups of people that did not like the government took action and left the country in chaos, “When Somalia president Siad Barre was overthrown by opposing clans in 1991, the Horn of Africa state was plunged into anarchy. Instead of government, Somalis had lawlessness and civil war.” (Poverty in Somalia, n.d. para. 2). Even though there is a government now that has been reinstalled, there is still a group that opposes the government name, al-Shabab. The government abuses their power in attempts to defeat the group, “In December 2013, government forces attacked KM-50 village, where they fought a local militia, beat residents, and looted and burned homes and shops. Several civilians were reportedly killed and many civilians fled the area.” (World Report 2015: Somalia, n.d. Abuses by Government Forces section, para. 3). Even though they are trying their best to take care of the al-Shabab, they are still harming citizens and destroying their properties. This is increasing the poverty levels within the country because people need to rebuild their homes and businesses. For some people this could mean a loss in there total income. These are the reasons that the government in Somalia is affecting the major amounts of poverty that are in the

As chaos erupted in Somalia in the early 1990s, the United Nations came to the conclusion that intervention was the only method of preventing the nation from total loss. Drought and disease combined with oligarchic rule resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians across the country. The U.N. took immediate action, mobilizing a relief effort to provide food aid and humanitarian assistance to Somalia. However, once in country, members of the U.N. Security Council realized the magnitude of the situation they had become involved in. The recent death of Dictator Muhammad Siad Barre had left the country in ruins as local warlords fought violently for power over the region. The result, civilians were caught in the crossfire of

Located on the Horn of Africa, Somalia is a small country colonized in the late 1880s by Britain, Italy and France. In the 1960s, Somalia gained its independence but remained a very unstable place. In 1969, a group overthrew the government and Mohammed Siad Barre, the general of the group, became Somalia’s president and dictator until 1991.

In August of 1992, President George Bush Sr. sent US soldiers into Somalia to provide humanitarian relief to those Somalis suffering from starvation. The major problems in Somalia started when President Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown by a coalition of opposing clans. Although there were several opposing groups, the prominent one was led by Mohammed Farah Aidid. Following the overthrow of Barre, a massive power struggle ensued. These small scale civil wars led to the destruction of the agriculture in Somalia, which in turn led to the deprivation of food in large parts of the country. When the international community heard of this, large quantities of food were sent to ease Somali suffering. However, clan leaders like Aidid routinely