CASTEL GANDOLFO: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged the world not to be "indifferent" to famine, as some 12 million people in the Horn of Africa face starvation amid the worst drought there in decades.
"We must not be indifferent to the tragedy of the hungry and the thirsty," the pope said in an address to hundreds of pilgrims following the weekly Angelus prayer at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome.
"Many brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa are suffering these days from the dramatic consequences of the famine, aggravated by war and the lack of stable institutions," he said, calling for "compassion" and "fraternal solidarity."
Referring to a Bible passage on the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes by Jesus Christ, he said: "Jesus reminds us of our responsibility — to do everything we can to help those who are hungry and thirsty."
"It is an immense task. In this time of holiday, let us not forget to open our hands and our hearts to come to the aid of those who need it," he added.
Aid agencies have stepped up efforts to aid the worst affected from the drought in Somalia, with the UN’s World Food Program starting an airlift of food aid into the Somali capital Mogadishu last week despite battles in the city.
But charities say more international donations are needed and relief efforts have been hampered by the combat, as well as a ban on some humanitarian agencies by the Islamist group Al-Shebab which controls much of southern Somalia.
US President Barack Obama on Friday called for an international response to avoid a "looming humanitarian crisis in Eastern Africa."
"I think it hasn’t got as much attention here in the United States as it deserves," he said after meeting with four African leaders in Washington.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels have denied there is a famine in the southern Somalia regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle as declared by the United Nations, saying the crisis is being exploited by external enemies.
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage has claimed that local Muslims are adequately addressing the drought crisis, saying in a speech on rebel radio that there is no need for assistance from "an outside enemy or non-Muslims."
He said the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been streaming across the Somali border into the mainly Christian countries of Ethiopia and Kenya in search for food were being lured there "so that their faith can be destroyed."
Battered by a relentless civil war since 1991, the plight of Somalis has often been referred to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Nearly half of Somalia’s estimated 10 million people are believed to be in need of aid.
The UN on Friday said it was looking for $2.48 billion (€1.72 billion) for 12.4 million affected people. The UN children’s agency UNICEF has said 1.25 million children are in urgent need of life-saving support in southern Somalia.
The UN says tens of thousands of people have already died due to the drought.
