The dilemma of the Horn

From arms to famine.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has described the response of other countries to the African famine crises as "derisory" but the scale of the problem is enormous and not limited to feeding the hungry.

Islamists in Somalia have agreed to lift restrictions to allow aid to get through but doubts inevitably remain leading to a crisis in charitable giving. With 57% of people believing overseas aid is wasted and stories of corruption with aid diverted or even used against our interests here and here the temptation to ignore requests to donate, eg, to DEC is becoming a problem.

Despite the harrowing pictures it must be right to question a strategy that saves people in a time of crisis only to let them live a life of misery, often mercifully short. Misrule, the problem ofpiracy, and the threat of militant Islamic expansion all need to be addressed to restore public confidence that their charity is not misused or abused.

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Islamist deceit

Yesterday I referred to reports that militant Islamists in Somalia had agreed to lift restrictions to allow aid to get through to the starving. Not only has this been denied by the rebels but they have even rejected the UN's claim that there is a famine in the region.

How odd, then, that 'Islamic Relief' is not only one of the charities listed on the Disaster Emergency Committee's 'East Africa Crisis Appeal' but the same appeal is an option for giving on their own web site. However, caution is needed in giving directly to Islamic Relief amid reports that little aid if any gets through to non-Muslims.

Updates

A reporthere (with pictures) on the 2.2 million starving Somalis the Islamist militants Al-Shabab claim do not exist. And they want to impose their ideology on the rest of us!!

More here (video)

and here. Better dead than Christian aided apparently.

Finally, an excellent summary of the problemhere - " 'The world should be ashamed' of Somalia crisis", a Today interview with Oxfam's Chief Executive, Dame Barbara Stocking.

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Dadaab, Kenya: Somalis Fighting For Survival

If anyone seriously doubts that there is a famine in Africa,MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) have provided some powerful images from the Dadaab refugee camp here.

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The will of Allah

The extraordinarily violent events on British streets and resultant court cases have largely eclipsed the dreadful plight of the people of Somalia who been suffering on a far greater scale than we can ever imagine in Great Britain.  'The will of Allah' oddly links these tragic stories. The Somali Islamist insurgents see it as their duty to purge, what they see as their land, of non-Muslims while Tariq Johan exhibits a dignified acceptance of Allah's will after the loss of his son in the riots. A N Wilson gives a movingaccount in hisMail Online article,Legacy of a society that believes in nothing.

In his grief Tariq Johan echoes the 'pale blue dot' sentiments of Carl Sagan while in Somalia the Islamist militants Al-Shabab are content to see millions of people suffer for the Islamic cause using taqiyya to spread lies in the process. With the situation worsening, the BBC has now picked up the story again in thisreport showing the continuing dire need for aid.

Back in in Britain a moving call for unitytribute  has appeared on YouTube. Speaking of his son's death and the faith that sustains him, Mr Jahan said, "I’m a Muslim. I believe in divine fate and destiny, and it was his destiny and his fate, and now he’s gone may Allah forgive him and bless him."

If only Muslims the world over shared the same vision there would be less need for non-Muslims to fear 'the will of Allah'.

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