Be Quick and Be Massive : U.N. secretary general sees an opportunity to help starving Somalia now

The cease-fire negotiated by the United Nations is holding in Somalia. The tentative peace that endures between the rival clans provides a window of opportunity for the international community and relief organizations. A U.N. relief ship docked earlier this month in Mogadishu, the devastated capital. The ship, bearing 5,000 tons of food, was the first allowed in by the opposing factions.

This event suggests that now is the time, while the feuding factions have put aside guns and are working together to distribute food, for massive supplies to be flown to the Horn of Africa.

Even in the absence of gunfire and chaos, Somalia faces starvation amid severe drought. Children are dying in crude refugee camps that offer little protection from the famine or fighting. The human suffering is more severe than that in Cambodia, Russia or Yugoslavia. Yet, the world community, including the United States, has not responded with appropriate alarm.

In the wake of the civil war and vicious street fighting, Somalia has no government and no public services. While much of the world ignores this tragedy, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is sending a personal envoy to spread the fragile peace and restore some form of government throughout the fragmented East African country. The United Nations deserves support for not having abandoned Somalia even when it was a danger zone and relief workers were murdered in battles over wheat. UNICEF and the International Red Cross have taken the lead, but much more aid is needed to stanch the starvation.

Where are the superpowers that used to compete to control Somalia because of its strategic location? Do current geopolitics allow children to starve?