More Despair

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday he saw Somali refugees living in "the worst conditions I have ever seen" during a tour of the Horn of Africa.

Kjell Magne Bondevik, the U.N. special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, said that governments must do more to ensure drought and hunger are eradicated in the long-term.

At least 7.5 million people are suffering from the worst drought in a decade in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti. Cattle are dying and food supplies to 18 million people are in jeopardy.

"It was especially moving to visit the country where several thousand ... displaced were living under the worst conditions I have ever seen," Bondevik said of his visit to lawless Somalia.

Bondevik said he could not confirm reports that 90,000 tons of food aid were being left to rot in Eritrean warehouses. The Eritrean government, he said, made it clear that "the discussion about this was closed. The warehouses were closed that the government has the keys."

He said, however, that the U.N. was "concerned" and that he had asked the government to issue a report on the matter.

What's sad is that so much of this suffering - if not all - is imposed by evil regimes...very similar to what's happening in Sudan. The answer: either remove the evildoers (as Bush would say), protect the innocent, or both.