Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd lands in Dollow, Gedo

[Voltage]

The recent Australian prime minister and current foreign minister has landed at Dollow district in Gedo region in order to bring attention to 100K refugees who have fled the famine in Al Shabaab controlled area. His visit comes two days after former Irish President Mary Robinson herself landed in Dollow

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=281212

Dollow has since the beginning of ICU been the only district in southern Somalia free from Al Shabaab and served as the long-time base of Barre Hiiraale before his forces recently moved out to capture more districts in the Gedo Region.

The situation with the refugees is dire and the world is promising massive resources both for the drought victims as well as local authorities in the free districts of Gedo region in order to both alleviate humanitarian concern and bolster defense and offensive moves against Al Shabaab.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national ... 75/248154/

At the end, you can see Gedo anti-Shabaab forces escorting the victims

[Meru]

all the ingredients are in place for a massive anti-shabab move. this is it ,anytime,the intelligence has been duly collected

[Shirib]

Al Shabaab has self destructed their days are numbered and will be wiped out soon. Also my uncle says their is a very real strife within Shabaab, that could see them possibly battle it out, it has to do with the famine and aid.

Good on Mr. Rudd for coming out to Somalia to see the victims. Hopefully more of these actions will lead to a larger humanitarian effort

[uglybrother]

Why should one be happy with cadan man arriving in Somalia? We should ask the question first, what has cadan men done for Africa or Somalia other than destruction?

[Voltage]

Shirib the differences between Al Shabaab leaders from the land who favor pragmatic approach and the non-locally affiliated hardliners who are bent on a dogmatic ideological stance has caused serious fissure. The Shabaab leaders with communities in the south were the ones who first gave aid agencies the green light only to have Ali Dhere from Ceelbuur and Godane from Hargeisa to come out next day with threats. At the end of the day no one wants to see their people starve so I hope the hardliners get what is coming for them. They need to understand they were guests and that will never come at the expense of starving mothers and kids.

Uglybrorther your mentality is as ugly as your name implies. If I am starving I don't care where food comes from as long as I get it. Kevin Rudd on his visit added 20 million to what Australia has already given. But of course you are not starving so you have the luxury of commenting white help vs. Other help. I think the old adage beggers can't be choosers rings bells. Btw how did you come to the West and why did you come to the "white man's" land, taking his refugee resettlement and asylum offers and using his services. Have you ever looked up what the word hypocrite means?

[uglybrother]

Go ahead write down what you feel like about me. White people have done 100times more harm to Africa and its people than good. Quite honestly, I want my people to survive through this hardship as much as any other Somali, but seeing these cadans as light bringers is what I am against it. I think it should be a responsibility upon white society to give back to Africa what it stole and robbed. That is where I am coming from, but I am sure your kind never gets it.

[Voltage]

Apparently you still haven't looked up what the word hypocrite means.

At the end of the day people are starving now. Political arguments about colonialism/post-colonialism can wait another day. Australia has given tens of millions so far and that is what matters "now". You have misplaced priorities which I believe you wouldn't have if you were in the midst of that famine.

Don't play secondary politics when the primary issue is starvation going on now.

[uglybrother]

You must be suffering from autism, because quite bluntly you haven't a clue of what the word reading means. Let's flip the script, what are you doing to help Somalia? Playing sympathetic over computer screen won't save a life. The world would have been heaven on earth if cadan man weren't on it. Period. I am done.

[Voltage]

Would you say you deserve a response?

[Voltage]

Aust provides extra $20m famine aid

July 25, 2011 - 8:24AM

AAP

Dolo, Somalia • Australia will provide an additional $20 million emergency humanitarian support for the 11.6 million people affected by famine in the Horn of Africa.

That takes Australia's total commitment to the crisis to more than $80 million.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday visited the Gedo region in southern Somalia, one of the worst affected areas in the crisis

"There are more than half a million Somalis in the refugee camps, and 50,000 arrived last month alone with nearly half of the children under five starving," he said in a statement.

Mr Rudd, who is travelling with World Food Program (WFP) executive director Josette Sheeran, saw first hand the difficulty in delivering aid to the region.

He praised WFP and other humanitarian agencies working in difficult conditions, saying operations in Somalia were among the highest risk in the world.

"Tragically, since 2008, 14 WFP relief workers have been killed there," he said.

Mr Rudd said the additional Australian support would help the WFP scale up its operations to assist an additional 2.2 million people in the previously inaccessible south of the country.

The UN estimates total humanitarian needs to respond to this crisis to be around $US1.8 billion ($A1.7 billion), of which only one half is funded now.

© 2011 AAP

[FarhanYare]

i see the point ugly brother is tryna make and however the current situation in somalia is down to the wire and starvation is at its worst so at the end of the day those people need food as soon as possible even if it means this cadaans have their own hidden agenda behind helping somalia whether its igniting more conflicts or something else.

[Twist]

They were saying he's gonna have a heart surgery so when did he go to Somalia? Where is XalimoFarax when you need her?

[FarhanYare]

They were saying he's gonna have a heart surgery so when did he go to Somalia? Where is XalimoFarax when you need her?

he already had heart valve sugery

[Twist]

That quick?

Wallee reer Galbeed way hor mareen!

And what are we good at? "He's reer dhuusa-dheere, arigeena iyo digaagooda islama daaqaan"

[Voltage]

Twist, exactly so