U.S. Anti-Terror Laws Hamper Aid Effort in Somalia

Democracy Now! | Headlines for July 12, 2011
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/12/headlines#4

• United Nations Describes Somalia as "Worst Humanitarian Disaster in the World" 

  U.N. officials say they are struggling to cope with the growing number of refugees in eastern Africa because of the severe drought in Somalia and neighboring countries. The United Nations says increasing numbers of malnourished young children are dying after trekking for weeks to receive emergency aid. António Guterres, the head of the U.N. refugee agency, has described the drought as the "worst humanitarian disaster in the world."
  

  António Guterrres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees: "I believe that we are witnessing today in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, the most tragic humanitarian disaster. The fact that conflict and drought are combining itself creating a terrible situation for the people that is forced to flee in big numbers, children dying on the way, children coming to Ethiopia or to Kenya, and doctors not even being able to treat them because of the level of
   malnutrition that they face."

• U.S. Anti-Terror Laws Hamper Aid Effort in Somalia 

  Some aid organizations say relief efforts have been hampered in Somalia due to U.S. anti-terrorism laws that bar any person or organization from providing any type of material support—even humanitarian aid—to groups that have ties to al Shebab, a designated terrorist organization that controls part of Somalia. Jeremy Konyndyk of Mercy Corps said, "U.S. laws on material support to terrorists have become a direct impediment to the drought response: the U.S. has avoided any humanitarian activity that might result in even a small amount of aid leakage to the militants."