Some 38 aid agencies have said that at least five million Somalis are facing acute food security crisis due to poor rains in the Horn of Africa nation.
More "bad luck"...
In a joint statement early this week, the agencies include Oxfam, Relief International and World Vision said vegetation conditions have worsened and drought conditions intensified and continued to affect pasture, water, livestock and crops.
“All actors involved need to immediately react to the situation by responding to calls for aid from the humanitarian actors operating in Somalia to ensure that the communities in the affected regions are given lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” it said in a joint statement received in Mogadishu.
The Horn of Africa nation is currently undergoing a drought that has put a severe strain on a large number of livelihoods.
Poor April-June rains coupled with poor October-December rainfall prospects have led to worsening of food insecurity situation and efforts to reduce levels of vulnerabilities continue to be undermined by irregular weather patterns.
According to the FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), more than 1.1 million people cannot meet their daily food requirements, while another 3.9 million Somalis require livelihood support to reduce the risk of sliding into crisis.
According to the agencies, severe drought in semi-autonomous region of Puntland is directly affecting approximately 150,000 people and has displaced an additional 12,000 people, according to an inter-agency assessment conducted in September.
“Food prices have gone up and some have doubled which in retrospect places the vulnerable populations are in dire need. Pastoral households interviewed reported that they trek an average distance of 60 km to access water points for both human and livestock consumption,” the agencies said.
In Somaliland, The FSNAU and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) reported in September that 31 percent of the population, or more than one million people, will be in need of humanitarian assistance in Somaliland until the end of 2016. Acute malnutrition has worsened and 248,000 people face acute food security crisis.
An estimated 89 percent of the pastoralists have lost at least one animal, while 77 percent of animal deaths are attributed to the drought.
According to the agencies, while access in Lower and Middle Juba Regions restricts information, satellite-monitored rainfall trends show the regions to be the most worrying in all of Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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The U.K. government is funding ISIS to the tune of $723 million, according to leaked British government documents. The leaked documents reveal the British government is sending $723 million in “aid” to Somalia while admitting it is “certain” to be used to fund terror groups ISIS and Al-Shabaab.
The revelation that the UK is funding ISIS comes in a leaked 41-page business plan drawn up by the UK’s Department for International Department. The Daily Mail reports that the document, leaked to The Mail on Sunday, outlines strategy until 2020, and is marked ‘Official Sensitive’ on every page.
In a detailed ‘risk register’, it rates the probability of taxpayers’ funds being ‘misused or diverted by listed terror groups or criminal gangs’ as ‘certain’ and ‘likely to grow in the next six to 12 months’ as tensions rise ahead of elections. It also accepts there is a similar ‘certain’ risk rating – highlighted in red – that consultants will be unable to travel to insecure areas to monitor spending.
‘This is so alarming,’ said one Minister. ‘The public will be deeply concerned that their hard-earned cash is literally being handed out to terrorist organisations.’
Ian Austin, the Labour MP for Dudley North, said he planned to table questions to Ministers. ‘Taxpayers will be horrified to find their money is going to terrorists at a time when police forces here are having budgets cut and officers are losing their jobs,’ he added.
Other leaked papers expose that Britain is still sending bilateral payments to India worth £70 million this year, despite pledges to end such transfers last year amid concerns over funding a nation with its own aid agency and a sophisticated space programme.
They also show Britain is giving cash to countries, including major aid recipients, despite high risks of corruption and concerns over the effectiveness of projects.
DFID officials admit that despite international diplomatic efforts in Somalia led by former Prime Minister David Cameron, large parts of the country are insecure and that the al-Shabaab group ‘appears to have had a resurgence’.
Yet the UK is doling out £568.4 million, despite the document admitting ‘Somalia remains an inherently high-risk operating environment.’
Officials set out tactics for mitigating such problems, including use of ‘trusted partners’ on the ground.
But the shocking revelations will fuel concerns that British cash is being misspent as billions are diverted into fragile states, worsening rather than alleviating problems.
Earlier this year, there was fury among many MPs after this newspaper revealed that British aid was ending up in the pockets of Palestinian terrorists.
There have also been cases of aid being ‘taxed’ or stolen in conflict zones by groups such as al-Shabaab, the fanatics behind the 2013 slaughter in a Kenyan shopping centre. A leaked UN report has warned of ‘high level and systematic abuses’ by Somali government officials who have passed weapons to the group.
In recent months, Islamic State has become more active in Somalia, even briefly capturing a town in the semi-autonomous Puntland region six weeks ago.
The 18 draft and final business plans cover 16 countries, the continent of Africa, and climate change strategy.
For all the discussion of value for money, poverty reduction and risk protection, they make alarming reading as the British aid budget soars to £16 billion by 2020.
From Mozambique to Malawi, officials admit there are high chances of corruption. In Pakistan – our biggest aid recipient, getting £375 million this year – analysts admit that human rights and space for civil society are on ‘a downward trajectory’.
DFID accepts there is a risk that its ‘programme delivery will be associated with unintended, negative consequences’.
Ethiopia, the second biggest aid recipient, is receiving £332 million, with much of the money funnelled through government systems.
Officials say this is ‘acceptable’, although ‘opposition political parties, independent media and formalised civil society organisations are constrained’.
DFID sources said there was always risk working in conflict zones: ‘We have robust plans to mitigate against this but, on occasion, losses will occur. We are rigorous in investigating any concerns relating to funding.’
The source added that they were investing in India’s poorest people, of whom there are still 290 million, in line with previous pledges to generate growth and jobs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Very simple solution.
Stop.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/05/2016 8:48 Comments ||
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Long analysis piece from WaPo. What's interesting is the number of people who saw something but didn't say anything because they were afraid of being labeled "racist" and being harassed by the government.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Same kind of folks that give Obumble the high "approval" poll numbers. In reality, people really don't support him or his policies at anywhere near those levels. Just afraid to be labeled racist.
[Ynet] A prisoner from Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been released and sent to the West African nation of Cape Verde for resettlement.
The Pentagon says the release announced Sunday of Shawqi Awad Balzuhair lowers the number of prisoners held at the US base in Cuba to 59. Twenty of those remaining have been approved for release.
Balzuhair has been held at Guantanamo without charge since October 2002 following his capture along with several other suspected al-Qaeda bandidosbully boyz in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Pakistain. A US government review board determined he was a "low-level murderous Moslem" and approved his release in 2016.
The US does not send prisoners back to Yemen because of the civil war and had to find another country to accept him. Cape Verde accepted another prisoner in 2010
[DAWN] The Heart of Asia conference concluded in Amritsar on Sunday on an unhappy note for Pakistain, which was criticised roundly as a base for myrmidon groups whom the conference statement described as a big threat to peace and security in the region.
The statement named Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Haqqani group as posing threats to region together with other groups fomenting terrorism in the neighbourhood and beyond.
Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... countered the claim, calling the criticism ’simplistic’.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... there was relief for Pakistain as the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain too came up for criticism together with Jundullah.
Pakistain was also applauded for hosting Afghan refugees for three decades. Mr Aziz also found occasion to briefly exchange pleasantries with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with a clutch of other foreign ministers.
"We remain concerned by the gravity of the security situation in Afghanistan in particular and the region and the high level of violence caused by the Taliban, terrorist groups, including ISIS/DAISH and its affiliates, the Haqqani network, Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... , TTP, Jamaatul Ahrar ...A Pak Taliban splinter group that split off from the Mullah Fazlullah faction because it wasn't violent enough... , Jundullah and other foreign terrorist fighters," the statement said.
Acknowledging the support that terrorism derives in the region, the statement demanded an immediate end to all forms of terrorism, as well as all support to it, including financing of terrorism.
"We recognise that terrorism is the biggest threat to peace, stability and cooperation in our region. We encourage the international community to continue to assist the government of Afghanistan."
Mr Aziz said his attending the Amritsar meet despite ’escalation’ along the Line of Control was testimony to Pakistain’s ’unflinching’ commitment for lasting peace in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Indian government on Sunday did not allow Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... to hold a scheduled presser on the sidelines of Heart of Asia Conference, citing "security reasons".
In sheer violation of diplomatic norms, the adviser was also barred from leaving the hotel premises and the media persons were not allowed to meet him in the hotel.
Furthermore, the Indian authorities stopped Pakistain's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit to enter the Media Centre set up at the conference venue.
Arguments took place between High Commissioner Basit and security officials on his interaction with the Pak media persons.
Later in the day, after returning from Amritsar, Aziz addressed a presser in Islamabad and said, "Pakistain does not need to be pressurised in terms of counter-terrorism efforts."
"We have done more in terms of counter-terrorism efforts in the last three years than any other country in the world."
Aziz said we are now sharing our experiences of counter terrorism with the rest of the world.
Pakistain attended the conference to show solidarity with Afghanistan and the country’s commitment to peace and security in Afghanistan, he maintained.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined hands to lash out at Pakistain on terrorism as the subject took centre stage at the inauguration of the sixth Heart of Asia ministerial conference on Sunday in Amritsar.
The theme of the conference is 'enhanced cooperation for countering security threats and promoting connectivity in the Heart of Asia region', and speculation was rife that India and Afghanistan would seek to pin Pakistain on terrorism.
Ashraf Ghani opened the conference by snubbing a $500 million pledge from Pakistain for development projects in Afghanistan, saying Afghanistan 'needs aid to fight terrorism', Times of India reported.
"We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism. Pakistain has pledged $500m for Afghanistan's development. This amount can be spent to contain extremism," Ghani said, directly addressing Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy... who was in attendance at the two-day moot.
"Afghanistan suffered the highest number of casualties last year. This is unacceptable... Some still provide sanctuary for terrorists. As a Taliban figure said recently, if they had no sanctuary in Pakistain, they wouldn't last a month," the Afghan president thundered.
"I don't want a blame game, I want clarifications on what is being done to prevent the export of terror," Ghani said.
He emphasised the need to "confront the fifth spectrum in the room, which is terrorism" and called on Pakistain to "verify cross-border activities".
The Afghan president appreciated India's support to Afghanistan, which he said comes "with no strings attached".
"The relationship is based on shared values and beliefs," Ghani said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] In pulling off conference without a hitch and sidelining rival Dahlan, PA president has good reason to be pleased... for now.
The Paleostinian news agencies on Sunday published the first results in the Fatah Central Committee elections for key positions in the political party.
Coming in first place was Marwan Barghouti, held in Israeli prison for murder after orchestrating deadly terror attacks during the Second Intifada, followed by Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Paleostinian Football Association (PFA). For months, Rajoub has been seen as the most popular personality in Fatah, after Bargouhti, of course, and Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
Continued on Page 49
[Yahoo.com] Israel was embroiled in fresh controversy on Sunday over its purchase of submarines from German company ThyssenKrupp after reports that the country's arch-enemy Iran holds a stake in the firm. The attorney general had already ordered police to look into allegations of improper conduct in the planned purchase of the submarines, and reports of Iran's link to the company have fuelled more criticism.
Israel sees Iran as its main enemy in the region, and suggestions that the Islamic republic would benefit from the Jewish state's defence purchases have made headlines. Media reported that Iranian holding company IFIC continues to own a 4.5 percent stake in the German firm.
"Israeli money, Iranian profits," a headline in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said Sunday.
ThyssenKrupp told AFP that IFIC owned around seven percent of the company until May 2003, when it fell below five percent, without providing details on the size of its current stake, if any.
Reports at the time said the United States had pressured ThyssenKrupp to reduce Iran's stake to below five percent. The Iranian state's representative on the company's supervisory board was also removed.
Israel is reportedly negotiating to buy the three submarines at a combined price of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), to replace the oldest vessels in its existing Dolphin fleet, which began entering service in 1999. It already has five of the state-of-the-art German submarines, with a sixth due for delivery in 2017, Maariv newspaper reported.
Last month, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit ordered police to probe allegations of improper conduct by a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the planned purchase of the vessels. Media reports have alleged a conflict of interest over the role played by the Netanyahu family lawyer, David Shimron, who also reportedly represents the Israeli agent of ThyssenKrupp.
The German firm told AFP they require their partners to get approval when they hire subcontractors and that there has not been a request for such an approval from their Israeli representative Miki Ganor. They are conducting an internal investigation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Awferchrissake. Iran ought to be the one that is embarrassed.
[Wash Times] The secretive teams of Green Berets guiding rebels in northeast Syria have expressed frustration with the amount of micromanagement they receive from a top-heavy headquarters in Iraq and the United States.
Special Forces sources tell of support staff watching the free-spirited Green Berets on reconnaissance aircraft and then criticizing their performance as they conduct the mission officially described as "train, advise and assist" the multi-ethnic Syrian Democratic Forces. The Americans and SDF are fighting their way toward Raqqa, the Islamic State terrorist army’s home base in Syria. Some of the "assisting" has drawn the Americans into firefights.
One officer chalked up the complaints to the sensitive political situation of U.S. troops on the ground in a chaotic country amid competing groups of Arab, Kurdish and Turkish forces, all converging with different objectives. The Green Berets, known officially as Army Special Forces, must act under strict combat rules after President Obama approved their insertion one year ago.
"Based on the very high-level approval required to conduct operations, it can be extremely frustrating for the teams," the officer told The Washington Times. "We just don’t have the latitude we had during our years in Iraq, and that can be frustrating for the teams. The progress over the last year has been slow. Each team may not see it during their rotation, but cumulatively we’ve made significant progress against Daesh while maintaining relationships with Turkey and Jordan. In my many years in Special Forces, I’ve never been involved with a more complex mission."
The Islamic State is also called Daesh, ISIL and ISIS.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
12/05/2016 05:37 ||
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#1
My guess is the aerial 'drone management' is conducted by neither clueless politicians nor senior military brass. But that's just a guess.
#2
Never served so much as a minute in the military. And any of you who served should be happy about that. I respect the hell out of you that did, but, I've had an anti-authoritarian streak a mile wide since I was 2 and it would not have worked out well.
That said, I remember hearing about this kind of $hit in Viet Nam and also I heard about the institution of fragging. How bad does it have to get before the controllers "feel their pain"? Wasn't that one of LBJ's problems?
The desperate need to impose power and control. It then creates a mother-may-I environment. Too many things happen too fast on a battlefield to have one 'brain' handle it all. Then the enemy is able to exploit that overload. Time and again demonstrated at the NTC in the 80s. We're back.
#5
Eight years of this has bred an entire cohort of officers and senior NCOs who see careers advanced or ended by the mother-may-I syndrome. It takes years to wash out or ruthless culling. Given the new secdef, I'm thinking the latter. A new crop of 04 and 05 need to be brought up quickly.
#6
Or maybe bring back a bunch of O-5 and O-6 that were forced out by the empty suit's perfumed warriors in the Pentagon...A lot of fine soldiers and great leaders with initiative and guts are drawing retirement checks that would love to get back in it.
Spokesman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said Sunday that Russia fully delivered all parts of S-300 air defense system to Iran and the two countries have agreed to develop logistical and technical cooperation, IRNA reported.
Not to worry, the Israelis know how to activate remotely the 'off' switch'...
Naqvi-Hosseini said that the air defense system was finally handed over to Iran despite the ups and downs and Iran currently has taken possession of the technology as well as air defense technology.
MP of Varamin said that given the full implementation of the S-300 deal by Russia, there is no need for pursuing complaint with the International Court of Arbitration over delays in delivery of the air defense system. Fortunately, Tehran and Moscow have excellent ties in the field of arms interaction, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm guessing the Russians sold it to Iran knowing it will just get destroyed five seconds after we cross the line of departure into Iran.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Spokesman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said Sunday that Russia fully delivered all parts of S-300 air defense system to Iran and the two countries have agreed to develop logistical and technical cooperation, IRNA reported.
