East Africa Drought and Famine Reach Somalia!

The International Red Cross is sending out an urgent message in hopes to alert Westerners to the emergency food and water shortages that now affect Ethiopia, but Somalia as well.

Humanitarian workers view Somalia's food crisis as one of the worst in the world. With winds ripping though the country, hundreds of thousands of Somalis are finding their crops as dry as the surrounding landscape, preventing harvests, killing livestock and leading to a mass risk of starvation. To make matters worse, the continual armed conflicts in central and south Somalia have aggravated the situation, hindering people from accessing shelter and medical attention.

But tales of hope and survival as well as entrepreneurship and solidarity continue to abound among Somalia’s 9 million people. They need our help! Or should the world community -- as one Somali national (now living in the U.S.) says -- leave the Somalis alone. “Let us try to resolve our own difference without undue involvement,” the Somali blogger writes. ”If need be, let those who want to continue fighting fight to their death. Let us instead help those refugees and people who want peace.” What do you say?