Russ Feingold: “although Somalia's 9 million people have suffered from violence, natural disasters, and lawlessness for decades, the…”

“although Somalia's 9 million people have suffered from violence, natural disasters, and lawlessness for decades, the humanitarian and human rights crisis they face seems to keep getting worse. On Monday, the United Nation's humanitarian coordinator for the Horn of Africa announced that due to fighting between rival militias, successive droughts, sharply rising food prices, and a collapse of the Somali currency, more than 3.5 million Somalis will need emergency food relief in the next 3 months. On June 9, the United Nations' Special Representative for Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, announced the first piece of good news from Somalia in a long time. With support from the U.S.'s own Special Envoy for Somalia, Ambassador John Yates--as well as representatives from the UK, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, the African Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Conference, and the European Union--Mr. Abdallah succeeded in brokering an agreement between Somalia's internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government, T.F.G., and a faction of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, A.R.S. We cannot be naive, however, because there have been numerous such agreements in the past in which ceasefires, political cooperation, and efforts to promote peace, justice, reconstruction, and reconciliation were promised.”