USAID administrator Rajiv Shah returned from a trip to the Horn of Africa last week, where nearly 12 million people are facing the worst drought in 60 years. Compounding the problem -- the hardest-affected areas are in parts of Somalia under the control of the al Qaeda affiliated militant group al Shabab, which in the past has barred Western humanitarian groups and killed aid workers.
Foreign Policy: You visited Somali refugees in Kenya. Describe how bad the situation really is there.
Rajiv Shah: This is a tragic situation. I had the chance to meet a young woman with two kids who had traveled for 32 days by foot from south central Somalia to Dadaab [a refugee camp across the border in Kenya]. She stood in a line with hundreds of other people -- all of whom were suffering and had very visible manifestations of acute hunger, including her two children who will be checked into the refugee camp and who will receive vaccines, health interventions, and emergency feeding. But, as with so many of the children I visited, many will not survive because they are literally starving to death. This is clearly a famine in south and central Somalia. It is in fact the worst drought that the Horn of Africa has experienced in more than 60 years. And it effects 11 and a half million people. So it is a devastating and significant scale.
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FP: What are the biggest problems for getting aid to the worst effected people in Somalia?
RS: The United States has been overall the largest responder, providing nearly $460 million of support and reaching nearly 4.5 million people, helping most of those people avoid falling into a condition of famine -- which is a very specific condition defined by the number of child deaths -- 2 child deaths per 10,000 per day related to food insecurity. We've been doing that in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia -- in areas where there has been enough humanitarian access to be able to get that done. It's no coincidence that the areas the U.N. declared as meeting the definition of famine were precisely those parts of south and central Somalia that have been under al Shabab control and where humanitarian access has been limited by Shabab over the past several months to years. But now we are taking Shabab at their word -- they are saying publicly that they are going to allow humanitarian access -- so the entire global community is testing that proposition by seeking to get to, and provide services in, the most inflicted areas.
FP: How would the United States be able to do that since there are very strict Treasury Department rules that say no U.S. government money can be spent on projects if there is any risk that it will "materially benefit" a terrorist organization [which is how the United States defines al Shabab]?
RS: Well, we have made the determination and I have made the determination that Shabab has offered legitimate humanitarian access -- based on their statements and based on a negotiation led by the United Nations special representative in the region. Based on that, where there is humanitarian access, we are providing support through the World Food Program, UNICEF, and so many other partners to be able to serve people who otherwise will starve to death. That's important and we're being very aggressive in trying to reach vulnerable populations, wherever there is some degree of effective access and we're basically testing that proposition.
FP: How are we testing it? Are we actually able to get into those areas?
RS: Well, we're getting into some. And the World Food Program and UNICEF and other U.N. partners are working with local NGOs -- and some of the larger international NGOs are essentially expanding their presence into Somalia to reach more acutely effected communities in south and central Somalia. And we're collectively providing them with food and financial resources and medical support to conduct that expanded humanitarian operation.
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