News stories show that not only are the militants preventing food relief from getting to the people who need it most but they are also preventing these people from fleeing to camps where food can be found. Meanwhile, Somalian government forces are reported to be shooting the people needing aid while stealing it for themselves or to sell for a profit.
Charitable organizations are known to pay obsurd salaries and benefit packages to their executive directors and employees because that is the only way, they claim, that they can attract the best candidates.
Put these three elements together and it is a recipe for disaster. The money being raised will never see its intended target - the starving men, women and children in the Horn of Africa. A cut will go the charity to pay its employees, a cut will go to bribe the governments to allow aid in, a cut will go to bribe the militants to allow aid in to the areas under their control and what is left over will be spent on food that will be confiscated by the militants and/or stolen by government forces, leaving nothing for the people who need it most.
Until there is stability in these impoverished countries in the form of strong and ethical government, until the citizens of Somalia and other Africa countries hit with famine are empowered to take control of their lives and are given the democratic rights to chose who will govern them, and until charities are transparent and less corrupt, this situation will repeat itself again and again.
News stories show that not only are the militants preventing food relief from getting to the people who need it most but they are also preventing these people from fleeing to camps where food can be found. Meanwhile, Somalian government forces are reported to be shooting the people needing aid while stealing it for themselves or to sell for a profit.
Charitable organizations are known to pay obsurd salaries and benefit packages to their executive directors and employees because that is the only way, they claim, that they can attract the best candidates.
Put these three elements together and it is a recipe for disaster. The money being raised will never see its intended target - the starving men, women and children in the Horn of Africa. A cut will go the charity to pay its employees, a cut will go to bribe the governments to allow aid in, a cut will go to bribe the militants to allow aid in to the areas under their control and what is left over will be spent on food that will be confiscated by the militants and/or stolen by government forces, leaving nothing for the people who need it most.
Until there is stability in these impoverished countries in the form of strong and ethical government, until the citizens of Somalia and other Africa countries hit with famine are empowered to take control of their lives and are given the democratic rights to chose who will govern them, and until charities are transparent and less corrupt, this situation will repeat itself again and again.