White House announces $105 million in Africa aid

White House announces $105 million in Africa aid

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President Barack Obama has approved $105 million for humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa to combat worsening drought and famine.

White House press secretary Jay Carney says the money will help provide food, shelter, water, and sanitation and health services to those in need.

It comes amid growing concern over the situation and increased U.S. focus. The United Nations has declared famine affects five regions in Somalia, and thousands are fleeing to seek refuge in Kenya and Ethiopia, which are also affected by the worst drought in East Africa in 60 years.

(visit the link for the full news article)
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I certainly do not want to sound insensitive to the problems in Somalia however, this money will not solve the problem. It will only prolong the pain of these people suffering at the hands of their oppressors and the hand of Mother Nature.

Two years of drought in Somalia have only served to pile on to the other circumstances that have contributed to the severe situation there. This money won't make a difference and could be better spent here in the US or better yet not at all!!.

hosted.ap.org...

Right? The CIA has helped them enough. I'm sure Somalia would appreciate the 105 million in the mail - not in the form of more government people in their country.

Unfortunately, when we hear of stories like this, it is usually a front for something much less noble.

But I'm also not one to shoot a gift horse in the mouth. So let's just hope that this feeds and drinks some citizens in need.

Has the suggestion of weather manipulation been exhausted on this website? HAARP = Drought. Convenient we took all of their drugs before this big weather famine, eh?

Why do we keep giving money to these people? We don't have it to give and it never gets any better in Africa. Im tired of paying taxes to our government to have it just given to some country that hasn't done anything to help itself.

Use the money to feed people here, fix the infrastructure or do something crazy like not spend it and use the money to pay down the deficit.

seriously...we just ran out of money...then we raise the debt ceiling to borrow more...then we give more away...logical thinking has gone down the toilet in washington DC...

That amount is nothing more than an insult to the people who are suffering,Its like winning 20 million in the lotto and giving a poor friend 10 dollars.

I could use a cut of that before it dissapears. I'm down here in Texas pushing the records for most consecutive 100+ degree temperatures consecutively.

That would be insensitive and correct, however.

Originally posted by jibeho

White House announces $105 million in Africa aid

[url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_EAST_AFRICA_FAMINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-08-15-41-31[/url]

President Barack Obama has approved $105 million for humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa to combat worsening drought and famine.

White House press secretary Jay Carney says the money will help provide food, shelter, water, and sanitation and health services to those in need.

It comes amid growing concern over the situation and increased U.S. focus. The United Nations has declared famine affects five regions in Somalia, and thousands are fleeing to seek refuge in Kenya and Ethiopia, which are also affected by the worst drought in East Africa in 60 years.

(visit the link for the full news article)
hosted.ap.org...

edit on 8-8-2011 by jibeho because: (no reason given)

edit on 8-8-2011 by jibeho because: (no reason given)

You know it's not the money that bothers me, but the report of,"...worst drought in East Africa in 60 years," is what I find suspicious.

In this case it is sad to say that this is too little too late from the entire planet and not just the US. The two year drought has resulted in record food inflation and decreased crop production and has also decimated 90% of the livestock. I won't even go into the problems with the govt. or lack there of. They don't have the structure to handle this nor do they even have the donations needed to make a dent.

The ultimate responsibility lies with the African Govts so that they can handle the simple fundamentals and so that can rise above and end the conflicts that have plagued Somalia and other countries for decades. This debate has been raging about Somalia since the early 90's. Nothing has changed since 1992 in my memory. We all know what happened there in 1993.

If you really want to dig into it Billions up Billions have been dumped into Somalia over the past couple of decades to no avail.

Over the period 1965-87 living standards remained stagnant. Even though Somalia received substantial amounts of foreign aid, its gross national product per capita grew at a miserable 0.3 percent a year, earning Somalia the title "the Graveyard of Aid."(1) Over $800 million poured in from the United States during that time.

Between 1981 and 1990 Italy alone spent more than $1 billion to sponsor 114 projects in Somalia. According to Wolfgang Achtner, an Italian journalist, "With few exceptions, (such as vaccination programs carried out by NGOs [nongovernmental organizations]), the Italian ventures were absurd and wasteful." He wrote:

Approximately $250 million was spent on the Garoe- Bosaso road that stretches 450 kilometers across barren desert, crossed only by nomads on foot. More than $40 million was spent to build a brand new hospital equipped with sophisticated machinery and operating rooms, in Corioley, south of Mogadishu. Since the Somalis were unable to run it, the hospital was allowed to fall to pieces. The Italian government paid about $95 million for a fertilizer plant in Mogadishu that never became operational. The Italians even established a University of Somalia--despite the fact that 98 percent of the population is illiterate. The Italian professors received salaries between $16,000 and $20,000 per month.(2)

Piero Ugolini, an agronomist who worked for the technical unit of the Italian Embassy in Mogadishu from 1986 to 1990, revealed that a majority of Italian cooperative projects were carried out without considering their effects on the local population. "[The] Italian aid program was used to exploit the pastoral populations and to support a regime that did nothing to promote internal development and was responsible for the death of many of its people," Ugolini said.(3)

Corruption increasingly became a problem, and foreign aid simply went to replace capital outflows. In 1984, for example, $15 million flowed out of Somalia. Misguided socialist policies did not help food production, either. It declined by 2.7 percent per capita over the 1975-80 period and a further 1.3 percent from 1980 to 1985. By 1987 consumer prices had risen 1,000 percent over their 1980 level.

Great report here
www.cato.org...

Money is part of the problem not the solution for Somalia.

reply to post by jibeho


I have no sympathy for them anymore...if they wanted to help themselves...they would have done it long ago...they simply just don't want to though...I say just let them sit in their mud hole if that's what they want...because it simply seems that is exactly what they want...

And yet people are feeling sorry for way Obama is seen,after his weak threats of not paying seniors their benifits,and other scare tactics because of budget,then he sends even more money away,I say get him out fast,any idiot can run a country into the ground,he is living proof

reply to post by Campy61


agreed..we have to stop policing and playing "god" for the world. If the money must be used then use to castrate or sterilize the populace..problem solved. My opinion is let nature take it's course. I wish it weren't so cruel but that's how it is.

reply to post by here4awhile


Agreed! How many generations have to keep reliving the same story over and over again only to end up deeper in the hole. The situation in Somalia only goes from bad to worse. From Dictator to Warlord. The outrage needs to come from Somalia's neighboring countries. Not the US or the EU.

My sympathies go out to Texas and Oklahoma at the moment.

after 1993 somalia can get lost

we tried to help and what did we get for it? nah

they made their own beds let em deal with it.

for the families of american servicement lost down there and they see this?

i would be extrememly irrate.

Originally posted by Campy61
Why do we keep giving money to these people? We don't have it to give and it never gets any better in Africa. Im tired of paying taxes to our government to have it just given to some country that hasn't done anything to help itself.

Use the money to feed people here, fix the infrastructure or do something crazy like not spend it and use the money to pay down the deficit.

If you only knew what the US government has done to the people of Somalia. 100 million dollars is chump change, and hardly even reparations.

Watching Obama immediately go out and start HANDING OUT the money we all just watched our nation fight amongst itself to even approve leaves me with an empty feeling. It's similar to how I'd imagine feeling if I gave a drug addict a few bucks thinking I'd helped him eat...just to watch him buy more dope with it.

Never mind the fact Somalia is a movie we've all seen before and the ending is a real bad one. Let's not play the sequel just to confirm it turns out the same way again!

Maybe he can now buy bus tickets for all of his family in Kenya and buy homes and build new mosques for them.

Um, what about the drought in the south, particularly here in Texas? Think of the number of crops and farmers that are suffering. Granted, we're not talking famine yet, but are those people being helped? You know, the ones in your own country?

reality check: it's dog eat dog world


let them all burn each other up in the streets and record it with their cellphones..(business as usual)

we have enough evil men and poverty to deal with on our own soil and we are loosing the battle.



same goes for the rest of you