The president of Doctors Without Borders will certainly take some heat for his views on the crisis in Somalia, but unfortunately his conclusions are probably correct. He is not saying that aid groups are being dishonest, and in no way is the suggestion that NGOs do not care, but as long as the world ignores the tribal warfare that holds most Somalis hostage, it will be impossible to get the aid to the most in need. Aid agencies try very hard to help, but the reality is simply that warlords dictate who moves where in the country and a lot of the money is used just in bribing gunman to allow them access to the starving.
This is not the first famine in Somalia and, until the man made causes are dealt with, there will never be an end to future famines. Droughts can be dealt with, floods can be dealt with, feeding large numbers of people during natural disasters can be dealt with, but only when the greedy and power hungry stop seeing the people as pawns in their game and start seeing them as human beings in need. Unfortunately, human history teaches us that rarely happens. A warlord is created by ignorance and insecurity and the only way to stem the development is to educate the children.
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