Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail for Inter Press Service
FALLUJAH, May 2 (IPS) - Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption.
Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme.
The sanctions were devastating nevertheless. Former UN programme head Hans von Sponeck said in 2001 that the sanctions amounted to "a tightening of the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen." Von Sponeck said the sanctions were causing the death of 150 Iraqi children a day.
Denis Halliday, former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq who quit his post in protest against the sanctions, told IPS they had proved "genocidal" for Iraqis.
During more than five years of U.S.-occupation, the situation has become even worse. The rationing system has been crumbling under poor management and corruption.
From the beginning of this year, the rations delivered were reduced from 10 items to five.
"We used the PDS as counter-propaganda against Saddam Hussein's regime before the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003," Fadhil Jawad of the Dawa Party led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told IPS in Baghdad. "But then we found it necessary to maintain basic support for Iraqi people under occupation. We blamed Saddam for feeding Iraqis like animals with simple rations of food -- that we fail to provide now."
"When the Americans came to occupy Iraq, they promised us a better life," Ina'm Majeed, a teacher at a girls school told IPS in Fallujah. "After killing our sons and husbands, they are killing us by hunger now. The food ration that was once enough for our survival is now close to nothing, and the market prices are incredibly high. It is impossible for 80 percent of Iraqis now to buy the same items they used to get from the previous regime's food rations."
Ina'm's husband was killed in a U.S. air strike during the April 2004 siege of her city, leaving her with four children to bring up.
A World Food Programme (WFP) report in May 2006 found that just over four million people in Iraq were "food-insecure and in dire need of different kinds of humanitarian assistance."
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in April 2007, of the four million Iraqis who cannot regularly buy enough to eat, only 60 percent had access to PDS rations. The situation is worse today.
The former Iraqi ministry of trade used to distribute fair quantities of food in the PDS, then low quality food at the beginning of the UN sanctions. The quantities were reduced after the sanctions lasted longer than the former government expected. After Iraq signed the memo of understanding in 1996 with the UN, the quality and quantity of food notably improved.
"Do not blame Iraqis for calling the sanctions days 'the good old days' because they were definitely good compared to the dark days we are living under U.S. occupation," Abu Aymen, a 45-year-old lawyer with eight children told IPS in Fallujah. "All Iraqis complained about life under Saddam's regime because it was bad, but it seems that all the good things, little as they were, have been taken away along with his statues."
Aymen added, "We used to get cheese, powdered milk for us and our children, shaving paste and blades, tomato paste, special food for children, beans, soap and cleaning detergents, and even chicken, as well as basic foods like flour, rice, cooking oil, tea and sugar. Now we get bullets and missiles and polluted food and medicines."
Haj Chiad, a PDS distribution agent in Fallujah, told IPS that he now also distributes illness.
"I used to deliver food, but now I distribute poison with it," he said. "It has happened many times during the past four years that the food given to us by the ministry of trade was either rotten or actually poisoned. We distributed rice and sugar from sacks that had been stored a long time in damp places, and tomato paste that was long past its expiry date before we received it."
The Iraqi parliament's Committee for Integrity has demanded comprehensive interrogation of minister for trade Abdul Falah al-Sudany for the "vast corruption in his ministry." But as with other complaints of corruption, Maliki has taken no action.
(*Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who has reported extensively from Iraq and the Middle East)
Showing posts with label humanitarian disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humanitarian disaster. Show all posts
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Another Imperial disaster: 90,000 civilians flee Mogadishu
It is often forgotten that besides the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the USraelian Empire has also triggered a war by proxy in Somalia when it ordered its Ethiopian stooges to attack and invade Somalia under the pretext that 3 (three!) Al-Qaeda terrorists were hiding there. Soon thereafter the relative stability provided by the Islamic Courts Union was replaced with chaos and warfare. To paraphrase Madelene Albright's words, "this was a price worth paying", at least in the minds of the Neocons running the USraelian Empire.
Check out this recent update on the current situation:
Fierce fighting in the Somali capital has forced some 90,000 people to flee to the outskirts of the city, causing a humanitarian crisis.
Three days of fighting between Ethiopian forces supporting Somalia's interim government and rebels in Mogadishu that began last weekend has now displaced about 88,000 residents, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
Residents say several dozen people have died in this week's fighting and many have been forced into hiding, Reuters reported.
The clashes have cut the ability of aid workers to respond effectively to what charities call an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa nation.
Inhabitants have been streaming out of the city all week on foot or carried by carts, donkeys and motor vehicles. Many have settled in camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu, where they live in makeshift shelters made of tattered sheets and sticks by the road.
Somalia's UN-backed government is struggling to impose its authority on the country, and its forces in Mogadishu and their Ethiopian allies face daily attacks from the insurgents.
When allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched two offensives against insurgent hideouts in Mogadishu earlier this year, hundreds of civilians died and 400,000 fled, according to UN and aid group figures.
Check out this recent update on the current situation:
Fierce fighting in the Somali capital has forced some 90,000 people to flee to the outskirts of the city, causing a humanitarian crisis.
Three days of fighting between Ethiopian forces supporting Somalia's interim government and rebels in Mogadishu that began last weekend has now displaced about 88,000 residents, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
Residents say several dozen people have died in this week's fighting and many have been forced into hiding, Reuters reported.
The clashes have cut the ability of aid workers to respond effectively to what charities call an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa nation.
Inhabitants have been streaming out of the city all week on foot or carried by carts, donkeys and motor vehicles. Many have settled in camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu, where they live in makeshift shelters made of tattered sheets and sticks by the road.
Somalia's UN-backed government is struggling to impose its authority on the country, and its forces in Mogadishu and their Ethiopian allies face daily attacks from the insurgents.
When allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched two offensives against insurgent hideouts in Mogadishu earlier this year, hundreds of civilians died and 400,000 fled, according to UN and aid group figures.
Monday, January 21, 2008
People are dying, Help us!
By Maan
"Information Clearinghouse" -- -- A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday, and the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions.
The Gaza Strip's power plant has completely shut down on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running. One of the plant's two electricity-generating turbines had already shut down by noon.
This will drastically reduce output to 25 or 30 megawatts, down from the 65 megawatts the plant produces under normal conditions. By Sunday evening the plant will shut down completely, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in darkness.
Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that by tonight, the one remaining operating turbine will be powered down, and the Gaza power plant will no longer be generating any electricity at all.
"We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant", Dr. Kittaneh said. "We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy [National Infrastructure]. We say this is totally Israel's responsibility, and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything."
After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Israeli government says the closure is punishment for an ongoing barrage of Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip.
"Famine"
180 fuel stations have shut down after Gaza residents to buy gas for cooking.
A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease, and malnutrition.
Abu Ramadan said that more than 80% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.
International condemnation
Most international actors in the region believe there already is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes, who said at a press conference at UNHQ in New York on Friday that "This kind of action against the people in Gaza cannot be justified, even by those rocket attacks".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed particular concern, in a statement issued later on Friday through his spokesperson, about the "decision by Israel to close the crossing points in between Gaza and Israel used for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Such action cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals".
The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories, John Dugard, also issued a much sharper statement on Friday, saying that Israel must have foreseen the loss of life and injury to many nearby civilians when it targeted the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City.
This, and the killings of other Palestinians during the week, plus the closures, "raise very serious questions about Israel's respect for international law and its Commitment to the peace process", Dugard said. He said it violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention, and one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law: that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.
"Information Clearinghouse" -- -- A humanitarian crisis is underway as the Gaza Strip's only power plant began to shut down on Sunday, and the tiny coastal territory entered its third full day without shipments of vital food and fuel supplies due to Israel's punitive sanctions.
The Gaza Strip's power plant has completely shut down on Sunday because it no longer has the fuel needed to keep running. One of the plant's two electricity-generating turbines had already shut down by noon.
This will drastically reduce output to 25 or 30 megawatts, down from the 65 megawatts the plant produces under normal conditions. By Sunday evening the plant will shut down completely, leaving large swaths of the Gaza Strip in darkness.
Omar Kittaneh, the head of the Palestine Energy Authority in Ramallah, confirmed that by tonight, the one remaining operating turbine will be powered down, and the Gaza power plant will no longer be generating any electricity at all.
"We have asked the Israeli government to reverse its decision and to supply fuel to operate the power plant", Dr. Kittaneh said. "We have talked to the Israeli humanitarian coordination in their Ministry of Energy [National Infrastructure]. We say this is totally Israel's responsibility, and that reducing the fuel supplies until the plant had to shut down will affect not only the electrical system but the water supply, and the entire infrastructure in Gaza – everything."
After months of increasingly harsh sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Strip's border crossings, even preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Israeli government says the closure is punishment for an ongoing barrage of Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip.
"Famine"
180 fuel stations have shut down after Gaza residents to buy gas for cooking.
A Palestinian economist Hasan Abu Ramadan said the current humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip will be deepened by the blockade on fuel and food supplies. He warned that Gaza Strip could go from a situation of deep poverty to all out famine, disease, and malnutrition.Abu Ramadan said that more than 80% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents have been surviving with the help of food aid from international organizations such as UNRWA for Palestinian refugees.
International condemnation
Most international actors in the region believe there already is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes, who said at a press conference at UNHQ in New York on Friday that "This kind of action against the people in Gaza cannot be justified, even by those rocket attacks".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed particular concern, in a statement issued later on Friday through his spokesperson, about the "decision by Israel to close the crossing points in between Gaza and Israel used for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Such action cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals".
The UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories, John Dugard, also issued a much sharper statement on Friday, saying that Israel must have foreseen the loss of life and injury to many nearby civilians when it targeted the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City.
This, and the killings of other Palestinians during the week, plus the closures, "raise very serious questions about Israel's respect for international law and its Commitment to the peace process", Dugard said. He said it violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention, and one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law: that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Iran calls for emergency OIC meeting to discuss the bloodbath in Gaza
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki has called on the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference to hold an emergency meeting at the foreign ministers level to discuss the Zionist regime’s recent crimes in Gaza.
Mottaki sent a letter to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Sunday which condemned the ongoing violence and atrocities in Gaza. It was delivered by Iran’s envoy to the OIC, Mostafa Borujerdi.
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has also consulted with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose country currently chairs the 57-nation OIC, and emphasized the necessity of holding the emergency meeting.
Israel has escalated operations in Gaza, killing at least 36 Palestinians since Tuesday in the biggest flare-up of violence since Hamas took power in the area.
The Zionist regime announced a complete closure of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
On Saturday, Ihsanogulu condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and urged the United Nations to intervene to stop the bloodshed in the impoverished territory.
He accused the Israeli military of “committing successive massacres in the Gaza Strip in which civilians were killed,” AFP reported.
Israeli terrorism will lead to new Intifada
The escalation of the Zionist regime’s terrorist acts and the illegal dissolution of the Hamas government will lead to a new Intifada, Iranian MP Reza Talaii-Nik said on Sunday.
Analysts say that after the U.S. president’s tour of the Middle East, Tel Aviv was given the green light to intensify its collective punishment of Palestinians.
“In fact, U.S. President George W. Bush prepared the entire psychological and political foundation for the severe repression of the Palestinians, and left the rest of the work to the Zionists,” Talaii-Nik, who sits on the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Mehr News Agency.
MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told MNA that the U.S. is facilitating the realization of Israel’s strategic objectives in the region.
“Whenever Washington has increased its support of Israel, the regime has immediately increased its brutal massacres of Palestinians,” noted Falahatpisheh, who is also a member of the security committee.
Arab League to hold emergency meeting on Israeli raids in Gaza
The Arab League Council will hold an emergency meeting later today on the ongoing Israeli military actions in the Palestinian territories, a senior official of the Cairo-based Arab bloc said on Sunday.
The meeting at the level of permanent delegates is being held at the joint request of the Arab League and the Palestinian National Authority, Arab League Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ahmed ben Heli was quoted as saying by Egypt’s MENA news agency. The meeting, to be attended by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, will cover the latest developments in Gaza and Israel’s continued attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, said Heli. UN rights official slams ‘cowardly Israeli war crime’ in Gaza
Israel’s targeting of a Hamas government office, which caused serious casualties at a nearby wedding party, was a “war crime”, and those responsible should be punished, a United Nations official said Saturday, AFP reported from Geneva.
John Dugard, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, also slammed the killing of Palestinians in other attacks and the closing of border crossings.
“The killing of some 40 Palestinians in Gaza in the past week, the targeting of a government office near a wedding party venue, (which)… must have foreseen loss of life and injury to many civilians, and the closure of all crossings into Gaza raise very serious questions about Israel’s respect for international law and its commitment to the peace process,” Dugard said in a statement.
“Recent action violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Dugard charged in the statement put out by the UN human rights commission.
“It also violates one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.”
He said that “Israel must have known” about the wedding party in the Gaza Strip near to the Interior Ministry when it launched missiles at the ministry building on Friday.
The massive air strike destroyed the former Interior Ministry building in Gaza City, now abandoned, sending a tide of shrapnel crashing against adjacent apartment buildings and killing a 47-year-old woman.
Around 50 people were wounded in the blast, including several children. At least 30 of the victims had been attending the wedding party near the building.
“Those responsible for such cowardly action are guilty of serious war crimes and should be prosecuted and punished for their crimes,” Dugard said.
The United States and other participants in the Annapolis conference in November to relaunch the Middle East peace process “are under both a legal and a moral obligation to compel Israel to cease its actions against Gaza and to restore confidence in the peace process, ensure respect for international law and protect civilian life,” he said.
Gaza power plant begins shutting down
Gaza’s main power plant began shutting down on Sunday due to a fuel shortage caused by Israel’s closure of the Hamas-controlled territory’s borders, a move taken in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, Reuters reported.
The impact could be seen in many of Gaza’s buildings, where lights were out and elevators stopped working.
Stores in the impoverished territory, home to 1.5 million people, were running out of goods because of a surge in demand and lack of supply. Gas stations have been shuttered because of Israeli cuts in petrol and diesel delivery.
“People are shopping feverishly, fearing products will vanish from the shelves soon,” said Jihad Abu Anwar, a grocery store owner. Turning to a customer, he said: “No candles.”
Kanaan Abeid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip, said the power plant turned off one of its two turbines and the second would stop in the evening.
“There is no fuel coming in and we have no reserves,” Abeid said. He estimated as many as one million Gaza residents would be affected by the full shutdown.
Closure
On Friday, Israel tightened its Gaza border closure, shutting all crossings to even UN humanitarian supplies.
The Hamas-appointed Health Minister, Basim Naeem, said an already crumbling health system was in danger of collapsing and patients’ lives were increasingly at risk due to the fuel cuts.
“Such methods have failed in the past to weaken the determination and steadfastness of our people,” Hamas said in a statement.
Officials with the European Union, which funds fuel shipments to the Gaza plant, confirmed one of the turbines had been shut down and that it was operating at about half-capacity.
“After two months of reductions, they’re very low on fuel. It’s only a question of hours,” said a senior EU official involved in the fuel program.
The EU official said the last EU-funded fuel shipment was made on Thursday and no fuel was allowed in on Sunday.
Gazans ordinarily consume 200 megawatts of electricity, of which 65 are produced by the local power plant. The rest comes from Israel and Egypt.
“It is going to have a significant impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza,” said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose aid shipments have been turned back
TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki has called on the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference to hold an emergency meeting at the foreign ministers level to discuss the Zionist regime’s recent crimes in Gaza.
Mottaki sent a letter to OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Sunday which condemned the ongoing violence and atrocities in Gaza. It was delivered by Iran’s envoy to the OIC, Mostafa Borujerdi.
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has also consulted with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose country currently chairs the 57-nation OIC, and emphasized the necessity of holding the emergency meeting.
Israel has escalated operations in Gaza, killing at least 36 Palestinians since Tuesday in the biggest flare-up of violence since Hamas took power in the area.
The Zionist regime announced a complete closure of the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
On Saturday, Ihsanogulu condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and urged the United Nations to intervene to stop the bloodshed in the impoverished territory.
He accused the Israeli military of “committing successive massacres in the Gaza Strip in which civilians were killed,” AFP reported.
Israeli terrorism will lead to new Intifada
The escalation of the Zionist regime’s terrorist acts and the illegal dissolution of the Hamas government will lead to a new Intifada, Iranian MP Reza Talaii-Nik said on Sunday.
Analysts say that after the U.S. president’s tour of the Middle East, Tel Aviv was given the green light to intensify its collective punishment of Palestinians.
“In fact, U.S. President George W. Bush prepared the entire psychological and political foundation for the severe repression of the Palestinians, and left the rest of the work to the Zionists,” Talaii-Nik, who sits on the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Mehr News Agency.
MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told MNA that the U.S. is facilitating the realization of Israel’s strategic objectives in the region.
“Whenever Washington has increased its support of Israel, the regime has immediately increased its brutal massacres of Palestinians,” noted Falahatpisheh, who is also a member of the security committee.
Arab League to hold emergency meeting on Israeli raids in Gaza
The Arab League Council will hold an emergency meeting later today on the ongoing Israeli military actions in the Palestinian territories, a senior official of the Cairo-based Arab bloc said on Sunday.
The meeting at the level of permanent delegates is being held at the joint request of the Arab League and the Palestinian National Authority, Arab League Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ahmed ben Heli was quoted as saying by Egypt’s MENA news agency. The meeting, to be attended by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, will cover the latest developments in Gaza and Israel’s continued attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, said Heli. UN rights official slams ‘cowardly Israeli war crime’ in Gaza
Israel’s targeting of a Hamas government office, which caused serious casualties at a nearby wedding party, was a “war crime”, and those responsible should be punished, a United Nations official said Saturday, AFP reported from Geneva.
John Dugard, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, also slammed the killing of Palestinians in other attacks and the closing of border crossings.
“The killing of some 40 Palestinians in Gaza in the past week, the targeting of a government office near a wedding party venue, (which)… must have foreseen loss of life and injury to many civilians, and the closure of all crossings into Gaza raise very serious questions about Israel’s respect for international law and its commitment to the peace process,” Dugard said in a statement.“Recent action violates the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Dugard charged in the statement put out by the UN human rights commission.
“It also violates one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.”
He said that “Israel must have known” about the wedding party in the Gaza Strip near to the Interior Ministry when it launched missiles at the ministry building on Friday.
The massive air strike destroyed the former Interior Ministry building in Gaza City, now abandoned, sending a tide of shrapnel crashing against adjacent apartment buildings and killing a 47-year-old woman.
Around 50 people were wounded in the blast, including several children. At least 30 of the victims had been attending the wedding party near the building.
“Those responsible for such cowardly action are guilty of serious war crimes and should be prosecuted and punished for their crimes,” Dugard said.
The United States and other participants in the Annapolis conference in November to relaunch the Middle East peace process “are under both a legal and a moral obligation to compel Israel to cease its actions against Gaza and to restore confidence in the peace process, ensure respect for international law and protect civilian life,” he said.
Gaza power plant begins shutting down
Gaza’s main power plant began shutting down on Sunday due to a fuel shortage caused by Israel’s closure of the Hamas-controlled territory’s borders, a move taken in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, Reuters reported.
The impact could be seen in many of Gaza’s buildings, where lights were out and elevators stopped working.
Stores in the impoverished territory, home to 1.5 million people, were running out of goods because of a surge in demand and lack of supply. Gas stations have been shuttered because of Israeli cuts in petrol and diesel delivery.
“People are shopping feverishly, fearing products will vanish from the shelves soon,” said Jihad Abu Anwar, a grocery store owner. Turning to a customer, he said: “No candles.”
Kanaan Abeid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip, said the power plant turned off one of its two turbines and the second would stop in the evening.
“There is no fuel coming in and we have no reserves,” Abeid said. He estimated as many as one million Gaza residents would be affected by the full shutdown.
Closure
On Friday, Israel tightened its Gaza border closure, shutting all crossings to even UN humanitarian supplies.
The Hamas-appointed Health Minister, Basim Naeem, said an already crumbling health system was in danger of collapsing and patients’ lives were increasingly at risk due to the fuel cuts.
“Such methods have failed in the past to weaken the determination and steadfastness of our people,” Hamas said in a statement.
Officials with the European Union, which funds fuel shipments to the Gaza plant, confirmed one of the turbines had been shut down and that it was operating at about half-capacity.
“After two months of reductions, they’re very low on fuel. It’s only a question of hours,” said a senior EU official involved in the fuel program.
The EU official said the last EU-funded fuel shipment was made on Thursday and no fuel was allowed in on Sunday.
Gazans ordinarily consume 200 megawatts of electricity, of which 65 are produced by the local power plant. The rest comes from Israel and Egypt.
“It is going to have a significant impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza,” said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose aid shipments have been turned back
Friday, December 21, 2007
Somalia: the forgotten front in the US GWOT
Somalia is a mostly forgotten front of the US Global War on Terror. True, only a limited number of US personnel is deployed there or directly involved in the fighting; this is a war by proxy, courtesy of the US backed regime in Ethiopia who invaded Somalia under orders from Washington.
After many years of chaos and violence Somalia had finally found a modicum of stability under the Islamic Courts Union, an umbrella organization bringing together various Islamist groups. Obviously, to have Somalia return to some stability under the leadership of an Islamist group was just not something the Empire could tolerate and it ordered Ethiopia, a faithful ally of the Empire in the GWOT, to (illegally) invade Somalia and oust the Islamic Courts Union (for more details about this war, see here).
Needless to say, just like in Afghanistan or Iraq, this intervention plunged the country in total chaos, violence is everywhere, the Somalis are fighting the Ethiopian invaders in endless and brutal clashes which resulted in over half of the population of the capital city, Mogadishu, leaving their homes and becoming 'internally displaced persons'.
In a bizarre and ironic twist of fate, some are now floating the idea of sending a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia ('Black Hawk Down' anyone?) instead of overlooking the self-evident first step to resolve this unfolding nightmare: demand an Ethiopian withdrawal. The other solution, which is what I predict will eventually happen, is for the Somalis themselves to expel the Ethiopians and liberate their country.
In the meantime, here is a good Al-Jazerra report on the humanitarian consequences of the GWOT in Somalia:
After many years of chaos and violence Somalia had finally found a modicum of stability under the Islamic Courts Union, an umbrella organization bringing together various Islamist groups. Obviously, to have Somalia return to some stability under the leadership of an Islamist group was just not something the Empire could tolerate and it ordered Ethiopia, a faithful ally of the Empire in the GWOT, to (illegally) invade Somalia and oust the Islamic Courts Union (for more details about this war, see here).
Needless to say, just like in Afghanistan or Iraq, this intervention plunged the country in total chaos, violence is everywhere, the Somalis are fighting the Ethiopian invaders in endless and brutal clashes which resulted in over half of the population of the capital city, Mogadishu, leaving their homes and becoming 'internally displaced persons'.
In a bizarre and ironic twist of fate, some are now floating the idea of sending a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia ('Black Hawk Down' anyone?) instead of overlooking the self-evident first step to resolve this unfolding nightmare: demand an Ethiopian withdrawal. The other solution, which is what I predict will eventually happen, is for the Somalis themselves to expel the Ethiopians and liberate their country.
In the meantime, here is a good Al-Jazerra report on the humanitarian consequences of the GWOT in Somalia:
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