Somalia is in a desperate state, with a constant threat of violence and famine. Control is divided between an Islamist “Courts” militia and a foreign-backed government. Reuters via the New York Times describes the situation:

“Foreign states, particularly Ethiopia and Eritrea, must stop supporting the rival factions or risk inflaming the situation, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.

“Unless the crisis is contained, it threatens to draw in a widening array of state actors, foreign jihadi extremists and al Qaeda,” said the report, entitled “Can the Somali Crisis Be Contained?”

The interim government of Ethiopian-backed President Abdullahi Yusuf has had its brittle authority challenged by a group of militarily superior Islamists, whom U.N. monitors say have received Eritrean military support.

The Islamists seized Mogadishu and its environs in June after routing warlords who had ruled Somalia since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

“The prospects for a peaceful resolution of the present crisis are poor,” ICG said.”

The Economist reports on the disaster in the region overall:

“The scale of potential misery is becoming clearer. Rough estimates of famine victims in the next few years range upwards from 10m. The risk of whole areas of the Horn collapsing with famine and irreversible environmental damage, urged on by jihadist and tribal clashes, is clear cause for alarm.”

Nearby Kenya has an appeal posted on it right now at the World Food Program site:

“WFP is fast running out of emergency food aid for millions of people affected by drought in Kenya and has appealed for urgent new contributions to prevent malnutrition rates rising as the long dry season sets in. WFP is feeding a total of 3.6 million people in 25 of Kenya‘s 70 districts because of drought — 3.1 million people receive monthly rations and 535,000 children are given school meals.”

[photo: AFP]