Forgotten bandit state heading for starvation 'catastrophe'

NAIROBI - Donors are failing to respond to the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Somalia, where more than 1.5 million people are on the brink of starvation, aid agencies in the region have said.

Millions of dollars have been raised for other countries in the Horn of Africa, where a series of droughts has cut a swath through livestock and sent malnutrition rates soaring.

Yet charities are warning that Somalia, already reeling from the effects of 15 years of conflict, risks being forgotten.

"There has been a complete absence of support for Somalia - a country which is at high risk of a humanitarian catastrophe," said Tony Porter, director of emergencies at Save The Children. "Some appeals have yet to receive a single contribution."

Waterholes and pastureland have turned to dust across the Horn in the past two years. Five rainy seasons have come and gone without downpours needed to replenish stores.

Up to 80 per cent of cattle herds have died, dealing a devastating blow to the nomadic herding tribes that criss-cross the arid region. Many are now totally reliant on humanitarian deliveries of food and water.

The United Nations estimates that more than 11 million people are at risk of famine in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

Dominic Nutt, Christian Aid's emergency specialist who recently returned from Somalia, said he found people begging for water at the side of the road. Thousands will die if the international community does not respond rapidly, he said.

"The problem is that the money tends to follow TV," he added. "It is very dangerous for agencies to operate [in Somalia], let alone journalists, so the pictures that make it to the bulletins are largely coming from Kenya."

Somalia has been without a functioning central government since 1991 when Siad Barre's regime was toppled.

Since then, warlords have carved the country into a series of personal fiefdoms, making travel impossible without an armed escort.

An abortive US relief mission to the capital Mogadishu ended in 1993 with the deaths of US soldiers and scores of Somalis, a misadventure portrayed in the film Black Hawk Down.

The country also lacks even the most basic of infrastructure, with roads, power and medical facilities almost non-existent.

Those problems make Somalia, experiencing its worst drought in more than 40 years, a particular concern, according to the Red Cross.

But almost three months into 2006, the organisation has managed to raise only 10 per cent of its $30 million target for the year.

All eyes are now on rains due next month, already forecast to be poor.

"We are bracing ourselves for a major catastrophe, the deaths of potentially thousands of people and widespread displacement," said Nicholas Haan, of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

- INDEPENDENT