“-- for Somalis --- one in six children acutely malnourished” Yet every woman in Somalia has, on average, six children.
“-- in a conference held recently in Canberra --- recognises that slow onset disasters 'can be predicted and their impact mitigated for in advance'”. No acknowledgment here about the recognition which took place during 1994 in Cairo at the International Conference on Population and Development

While any humanitarian disaster needs our support it is important to understand the roots of the present crisis in Somalia. Somewhat astonishingly the author completely fails to note this context.

The US supported the Barre dictatorship from 1977 to 1991. When they withdrew that support in 1991 the government collapsed. There has been no stable government since. A civil war followed the 1991 collapse. In December 2006 the US backed an Ethiopian invasion following their own forced withdrawal from the country. A puppet regime named the Transitional Federal Government was installed. This corrupt regime was opposed by the al Shabaab militia who today control 80% of the country and 60% of the population.

The Ethiopians withdrew and were replaced by US trained, armed and financed Burundian and Ugandan troops. A war continues to rage with the foreign troops supported by US drone strikes from the CIA base in Mogadishu and the US military base in nearby Djibouti. As recently as the 14th October 29 civilians were killed in a drone strike in southern Somalia.

The US is denying aid to those areas of the country not controlled by its TFG puppet. It has threatened aid agencies seeking to assist the al-Shabaab controlled areas with prosecution for providing "material assistance to terrorists".

I agree that Somalia needs help now, just not the kind of "help" western imperialism has been providing for the past 40+ years.