Somalia

Jonathan Rugman blogs on the appalling famine in Somalia – and what the world can do to help.

The US gives $28 million in aid but says the money won’t be used in rebel-held famine regions, unless it receives assurances from militants. Channel 4 News talks to the head of the UN in Somalia.

Tens of thousands of people have already died in Somalia as the UN declares an official famine. A key figure leading the African Union’s efforts tells Channel 4 News “we’ll be burying children soon”.

A tearful Jerry Rawlings, Ghana’s former president, tells Jon Snow that “We’ll be burying lots of children soon” unless aid money and medical supplies are received to alleviate the Somalia famine.

A £52.25m emergency aid package is being put together to help millions of starving people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya hit by Africa’s worst drought in 50 years.

Seven days after the DEC launched its East Africa drought appeal Britons have donated £15m but Channel 4 News asks one charity boss whether news events elsewhere have affected donations.

An aid worker in Somalia, the centre of the East Africa drought crisis which has hit 12m people, tells Channel 4 News he fears “death on an epic, unimaginable scale” if more is not done.

The head of the United Nation’s refugee agency describes the drought in Somalia as the “worst humanitarian disaster” in the world and urges Kenya to build more camps, after touring the region.

Leading aid agencies launch an appeal to help 10 million people in the grip of Africa’s worst drought in decades, as Oxfam tells Channel 4 News soaring local food prices are compounding the crisis.

“I’ve left my children at home because I cannot watch them die.” Save the Children blogs for Channel 4 News on the Somalis left in desperation as they are forced to confront devastating drought.

The hard-line Somali armed group al-Shabaab welcomes “Muslim and non-Muslim” foreign aid groups as the region suffers one of its worst droughts in 60 years.

The head of the UN in Somalia exclusively tells Channel 4 News he is “not sure the population can survive until the end of the year” unless urgent action is taken, amid the worst drought in 20 years.

Is America denying food aid to starving Somalis as part of a strategy to beat the al-Shabaab militants of the Horn of Africa? Jonathan Rugman reports on the agonised food politics of Somalia.

The case is intriguing, partly because it provides some of the first indications that extremists in Somalia and Yemen may be linking up; and partly because Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame’s arrival for trial in New York around midnight on July 4th reignites the debate about the legal justification for flying military detainees into US jurisdiction from overseas.

A Somali man is taken to the US to face charges of assisting terror groups in Yemen and Somalia, after being detained on a US Navy ship for more than two months.