The regime is giving much media attention to three aid cargoes it has flown to Mogadishu recently, making it sound as if the Western world is standing aside while Iran is the only one caring for the starving millions.
President Ahmadi-nejad says the Western world’s “arrogant powers” caused the starvation and are happy with it.
“A bunch of bullying people have been controlling all [African] resources,” he said Monday. “By looting [Africa’s] riches, they have imposed poverty and famine on the people of the continent.”
He said the humanitarian disaster in Somalia is a disgrace to the world and to the “so-called managers of the world.” Ahmadi-nejad has been using that phrase frequently in recent weeks, using it mockingly as if the Western powers were describing themselves as the managers of the world.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has also spoken up about Somalia. It appears that it is at his order that the state media are filled with stories about Somalia and that officials like Ahmadi-nejad sound off about it.
A statement Monday from Khamenehi said, “These days, the Horn of Africa and particularly the catastrophe-ridden country of Somalia are witnessing one of the most painful human crises in which the lives of millions of Somali women and children are in danger due to drought, famine and the silence of international organizations.”
But international organizations not been silent at all. They have been most vocal about the threat to lives in Somalia. A major problem has been distributing aid to drought areas. The fighting in the country, often targeting aid providers, has driven aid groups into confined areas along the coast or even led many to leave the country.
Aid comes in, but cannot easily reach the needy. Much of the aid is stolen and sold in markets. Some estimates say as much as half of all the aid is stolen.
The Islamic Republic has sent three air shipments of aid to the airport at Mogadishu. But it has said nothing about putting anyone on the ground to assure that the aid is not stolen and reaches those who need it. The Islamic Republic has simply been silent on the key issue facing Somalia relief efforts.
But Ahmadi-nejad asserted that the West is doing nothing to help Somalia “because doing so would have no benefit for the West.”
He said: “If the US government and NATO decide to drop 10,000 bombs on Somalia, they will do it in one day. But it takes six months to plan and manage sending 1,000 pounds of food. This is the main management problem of the world.” Actually, millions of tons of food relief have been sent to Somalia continuously over the last 20 years.
The problem of starvation in Somalia is nothing new; it has just been pushed to new heights by the current drought.