Somalia Crisis Dubbed Worse Than Darfur - CBS News

The Skinny: Top U.N. Officials Call Current Bloodshed, Exacerbated By Piracy, Worst In Africa

It's a dubious honor, but if the title of Africa's most pressing humanitarian crisis belongs to any country, it might not be the one with all the bus stop advertising featuring movie stars striking poses of deep concern.

At this moment it may belong to Somalia, where 200,000 people recently displaced by violence are rapidly running out of food, the New York Times reports.

Top United Nations officials who specialize in Somalia said the country had higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed and fewer aid workers than Darfur, which is often publicized as the world's most pressing humanitarian crisis.

It might not matter who's in bigger trouble, except that Darfur has taken clear priority in terms of getting peacekeepers and aid money. In some cases, such as the African Union's promise to send 8,000 troops to stop the anarchy in Somalia, promises couldn't be fulfilled because the soldiers were deployed to Darfur.

Only 1,600 Ugandan troops of the promised 8,000 have showed up so far. Somalia's problems are centered in Mogadishu, where relentless urban combat between an unpopular transitional government - installed partially with American help - and a determined Islamist insurgency have driven waves of people to more than 70 refugee camps. These people are hungry and sick, and only the hardiest of hardcore humanitarian agencies can get to them.

Unlike Darfur, where suffering is being eased by a billion-dollar aid operation and more than 10,000 aid workers, Somalia is mostly considered a no-go zone. Pirates lurking off the coast of the country have attacked more than 20 ships this year, including two carrying U.N. food.

The U.N. officials calling attention to the country's plight said they weren't diminishing the problems of Darfur, where over 200,000 people have died from violence and disease since 2003.

But they were clearly trying to launch their own PR campaign to vie for some of the same attention and aid dollars that are going to the Sudan.

It seems to have worked, at least this round. Their invitation to Times reporter Jeffrey Gettlemen, one of several journalists participating in recent organized trips to the country, got Somalia above the fold on today's front page.

Source: CBS