Somalia famine made worse by militants blocking aid
The five countries of the Horn of Africa are experiencing the worst declared drought in 60 years. What was a serious problem with the weather has become a humanitarian crisis in Somalia where over 60 percent of the country is controlled by militias who have been hampering the access of aid groups. Because relief can’t reach them, famished Somalians are trying to get to aid. Refugees have walked for weeks through parched and dangerous areas to reach the refugee camps in the cities and on the borders. As a sign of how bad it must be in the rest of the country, some refugees are fleeing into Mogadishu, one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Andrew Harding, reporter with our partner the BBC, went there to speak with Somalians who made the trek – and who are now trying to survive in the camps. Alun McDonald, with the aid agency Oxfam, has recently returned from a refugee camp further south on the Kenya-Somalia border.
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