Somali Famine Defies Easy Answers
解决索马里饥荒困难重重
The famine sweeping southern Somalia is posing a painful challenge to humanitarian organizations. Children are dying by the thousands just a few kilometers from warehouses full of emergency food supplies. But the countryside is still a war zone controlled by an al-Qaida linked extremist group that restricts humanitarian access, and has killed aid workers.
The roads into Mogadishu are dotted with families streaming in from parched southern Somalia in hopes of saving their wafer-thin children from starvation. But even in the capital, the prospect of survival is little better.
通往摩加迪沙的路上，来自干旱的索马里南部的难民川流不息，希望拯救单薄的孩子免于饿死的命运。但是即使在首都，存活的机会也多不了多少。
Twenty-six-year-old Hamsa Ali and her six children were part of a small community that packed their belongings and walked 20 days to get to Mogadishu. Fifteen died along the way, and now children weakened by malnutrition are dying of measles.
26岁的Hamsa Ali和她的6个孩子与她所在社区的其他人带着自己的物品，步行了20天来到摩加迪沙。15人在途中死亡，现在，由于营养不良而严重衰弱的孩子慢慢死于麻疹。
She said her three-year old boy became swollen, contracted measles and died a few days ago.
她说，她三岁的儿子开始浮肿，感染了麻疹，几天前去世。
Her group has taken refuge in the remains of an Italian-colonial-era church, but it offers little protection from the elements, and the crowded conditions invite disease.
他们这一群人在意大利殖民时代的一个教堂的遗骸中避难，但是这里并不能提供任何保护，而且拥挤的环境很容易引发疾病。
Officials say hastily-erected tent communities like this one are at the breaking point. New camps spring up every day.
官员们表示，仓促建起的帐篷社区是疾病的爆发点。每天都有新的帐篷如雨后春笋般搭建起来。
Some stocks of emergency food have arrived at a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Mogadishu. More is on the way, and much more is needed, but the vexing question is how to get the food to people before they starve.
一些紧急食品储备已经抵达联合国世界粮食规划署在摩加迪沙的仓库，更多的食品救助正在途中，难民需要的则更多。但是现在最令人烦恼的问题是怎样在难民饿死之前将这些食物分发给他们。
It is more complicated than one might think. Years of control by the anti-Western al-Shabab extremist group have left Somalia with no aid delivery infrastructure. After al-Shabab was driven out of Mogadishu this month, the flood of hungry families from the countryside intensified. But al-Shabab still controls the famine ravaged south, where 2.2-million people are believed to be in desperate straits.
当地的形势比想象的更加复杂。反对西方大国的青年党激进组织几年的控制导致索马里没有任何负责分发救助的基础设施。本月，青年党被赶出摩加迪沙之后，饥饿的家庭如洪水般从乡村涌入摩加迪沙。但是青年党仍然控制着受干旱严重影响的南方。据估计，南方大约有220万难民处于绝望的境地。
That desperation is spreading to Mogadishu. Last week, hungry residents at one camp laid siege to a truck delivering grain and began carting away sacks of food. Guards trying to control the crowd began shooting. Several people died.
这种绝望的情绪正在向摩加迪沙蔓延。上周，一个难民营饥饿的居民包围了运送谷物的卡车，开始运走成袋的食品。试图控制人群的卫兵开始开枪，造成几人死亡。
The dilemma is this - the World Food Program distributes food primarily through humanitarian NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), but Western aid groups spooked by the killing of humanitarian workers have stopped working in Somalia. Even the World Food Program shut down its operation a year and a half ago after 14 of its local employees were killed.
目前的困境是：世界粮食规划署主要通过人道主义非政府组织分发食品。但是由于人道主义工作人员被杀害，受到惊吓的西方救助组织停止了在索马里的工作。14名当地雇员被杀害之后，世界粮食规划署也于一年半之前停止了在索马里的工作。
Now, when people are starving by the thousands, there is no system to ensure the aid gets to those who need it. WFP spokesperson in Mogadishu Susannah Nicoll says rebuilding the aid infrastructure is excruciatingly time consuming. "It is not a case a case of just dumping food. You can not just dump it. It is a desperate situation where you know you want to get the access, but you have to do it in a fashion that you know it would be safe and it would reach the people you are trying to target," she said.
现在，当成千上万的人们被饿死的时候，没有任何体系来保障食品救助能够到达需要的人手中。世界粮食规划署驻摩加迪沙发言人Susannah Nicoll表示，重新建立救助分发基础设施是非常耗费时间的。“这并不是倾倒粮食的问题，你不能只把粮食倾倒出去就完事。目前的形势非常绝望，你知道，你必须尽快将粮食分发出去，但是必须以安全的方式，必须到达真正需要的人手中。”
The World Food Program and other agencies have come in for severe criticism for keeping a warehouse full of food, while people in the city are starving. The self-proclaimed mayor of Mogadishu has urged the World Food Program to give the food to local NGOs who can at least help some of the people.
世界粮食规划署和其他机构已经受到严厉的批评，他们的仓库中堆满了食物，但是城中的人们却濒临饿死的边缘。摩加迪沙市长敦促世界粮食规划署将食品转交当地非政府组织，他们至少可以帮助一部分人。
But the WFP’s Susannah Nicoll says the short-term solution would be a long-term mistake. “There are lots of people who have arrived in town claiming to be NGOs and you have to know they are going to be able to [distribute food] in a reasonable fashion with minimal risk to be able to target people. It is not just a case of handing out food to anyone who says, ‘We can give it out," she said.
但是世界粮食规划署的Susannah Nicoll表示，短期的解决方法长期来看将是一个错误。“许多人来到这里声称是非政府组织，你必须确保他们以合理的方式分发食品，确保为目标人群带来的风险最小化。我们不可能把食品交给任何一个说‘我们可以分发食品’的人。”
With food security analysts predicting the famine zone might soon spread to the entire south, the head of Somalia’s feeble transitional government is proposing creation of a special food security protection force. But Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali admits it would take precious time to train and arm the force, which would then face a difficult challenge escorting food shipments through Mogadishu, much less the al-Shabab controlled south.
粮食安全分析人员预测，饥荒区域可能很快扩散至整个南方。索马里脆弱的过渡政府领导提议建立食品安全保护特别部队。但是总理穆罕默德·阿里(Abdiweli Mohamed Ali) 承认需要大量时间来训练和武装这支部队，然而，押送食品经过摩加迪沙会面临艰难的挑战。
Susannah Nicoll says the World Food Program is not ruling out anything as it looks for ways to reach people in the famine zone. But when asked how long it would be before the aid operation would be up to full speed, she said it would only be when humanitarian groups have full access to the south.
Susannah Nicoll表示，世界粮食规划署在寻找方法救助饥荒地区的难民方面不排除任何可能性。但是被问到救助工作何时能全面展开时，她表示，只有到了人道主义组织能够全面进入南方的时候才有可能。
The reality is, there is no quick solution. Somalia faces many difficult months ahead.
实际情况是，并没有快速的解决方法。索马里未来仍将面临艰难的几个月。 |